“In an effort to advance the plant phase of the Montserrat Geothermal Project, the Ministry of Communications, Works, Labour & Energy has embarked on an Early Market Engagement EME mission,” an official statement said.
“The Early Market Engagement process, involves soliciting information from experienced Geothermal Developers and Engineering, Procurement and Construction companies as to the scope of works, terms of conditions and general interest in the proposed Montserrat Geothermal Plant Public Private Partnership project. The Ministry will facilitate site visits to Montserrat involving tours of the three geothermal wells (Mon 1, 2 & 3) and meetings with the geothermal and energy teams and the sharing of information gleaned from the well testing of Mon 1 & 2 to date, for interested companies at no cost to the Government of Montserrat.
“The Mytenders Portal will be used to facilitate this Early Market Engagement process, ensuring transparency and equality in dealing with all companies engaged.
“The expected deliverables of this Early Market Engagement process are as follows:
1. The information shared by the companies that participated in this process.
2. A Montserrat Geothermal Plan Public-Private Partnership – Early Market Engagement Report of the analysis of the information collected and procurement options.
“The proposed next steps, are a series of meetings with the Government of Montserrat, to review and ratify the Early Market Engagement Report and then with DFID to discuss the Early Market Engagement Report and funding options.
This announcement is a shift in government policy on geothermal, which previously endeavoured to have DFID finance the project.
The release also said “the Energy team within the Ministry of Communications, Works, Labour and Energy believe, that the above-mentioned process will better inform both Government of Montserrat and DFID, thus allowing collaborated decisions to be made, to realize geothermal electricity on Montserrat.”
Exergy, is the first company expected to participate in the EME and should arrive on island by November 17th.
