The Republic of Vanuatu, an archipelago in the South Pacific Ocean with a population of roughly one-quarter million inhabitants, is pursuing a geothermal energy program that could have more than half of the country’s electrical power coming from geothermal sources by the end of the decade.
Renewable energy developers target their projects for locations where the energy sources they seek to tap are plentiful. This is why solar power plants are abundant in the southwest and many wind farms are found on the Great Plains. Many islands in the Pacific are volcanic in origin, which makes the use of geothermal energy a similarly smart move. The Palinpinon Geothermal Power Plant in the Philippines (above) is one example.
Most of the electricity for Vanuatu presently comes from diesel generators. This makes for a volatile pricing market, and electrical tariffs are revised each month. The average cost for electricity is 60 cents per kWh.
The geothermal project, which is being run by KUTh Energy, an Australian energy company, looks to develop and install an 8 MW geothermal plant and also to improve and extend the electrical infrastructure for the nation’s major island, Efate.
The project has been endorsed by the World Bank, and KUTh Energy is looking for funding to move the project forward. Cost for the entire project is estimated to be as much as $120 million, but half of that is expected to come from development bank loans.
Current estimates are that the first phase of the project would be complete in 2015, with the second phase being completed in 2019.
Photo credit: Mike Gonzalez/Wikimedia