$2.26M to tap geothermal, help economy

A day after the CNMI received bad news that its economy shrunk by an average of 16 percent in 2008 and 2009, the Office of Insular Affairs yesterday gave the islands an early Christmas gift in the form of a $2.26 million grant to develop geothermal energy and bring its fading economy back to life.

Interior Assistant Secretary for Insular Affairs Tony Babauta and acting governor Eloy S. Inos signed yesterday two documents: the first one giving the islands $1.26 million to explore the potential of geothermal energy; and the second, a $1 million grant to, among other things, resuscitate the ailing economy.

“This grant will allow us to do a more detailed assessment and possibly some initial exploration to go ahead and prove that [geothermal] resource is available and hopefully we can calculate in what quantities so we can invite interested private firms and come in do production,” said Inos.

He said that based on a study made by OIA’s National Renewable Energy Laboratory, four sites on Saipan have the potential for geothermal resources.

“We’ve got some areas that have been identified up in Gualo Rai. They are trying to follow the fault that comes from the Northern Islands and go all the way down to Saipan. Those findings were backed several years ago when CUC [Commonwealth Utilities Corp.] was doing some test drills and they encountered an elevated water temperature in those areas so that suggests there might be some geothermal activity up there,” the acting governor said.

A summary of the NREL report on the CNMI termed as “high” the possibility that a geothermal resource can be found on the islands. It specifically mentioned two water wells drilled in Garapan that Inos alluded to earlier.

“Two water wells drilled in the Gualo Rai area of western Saipan encountered elevated temperatures above what would be expected in the groundwater aquifer. The hotter of the two wells was anecdotally reported to have temperatures ‘too hot to touch.’…Anomalous temperatures were also encountered in a nearby well… Elevated temperatures in these two wells…provide potential evidence that hydrothermal systems may be present in the volcanic basement rock underlying the carbonate aquifer blanketing Saipan,” the report states.

Inos said that part of the $1.26 million OIA gave the CNMI will be used to drill potential geothermal sites there.

“This money will be available and we’re going to bring in drillers and explorers with the proper equipment and start drilling and see what’s down there and confirm the availability of geothermal resources,” he said.

Babauta, for his part, said he is happy that OIA was able to follow through with its promise to help the CNMI explore renewable energy sources.

He, however, said that tapping into renewable energy sources should not be an end-all in the country’s quest to become greener and more energy efficient.

“There nothing surprising that there is verifiable date on the geothermal front. Wind is a possibility, solar is a possibility. The earliest wins when you try and implement a renewable energy plan are really going to be educating the community—getting some successes in energy efficiencies. Changing lights, getting energy efficient appliances. Its little things that government, businesses, and homes can do to reduce the rate of consumption,” he said.

When asked if the NREL report prescribed a specific renewable energy source the Commonwealth is best suited for, Babauta said there’s never a “silver bullet” solution. “It’s always a combination of different technologies that makes sense,” he said.

The OIA official added that it’s still up to the CNMI Energy Task Force to make a strategic development plan.

“Ideally you would want to have goal. Let’s say for example we want to reduce our energy consumption of fossil fuel by 20 percent by 2025. Once you have that goal set and that vision…we are committed to working with the local government and the community and all the stakeholders as well as NREL to help along in the process,” he said.

Inos said part of the $1 million grant will be used to hire an economist that will help the CNMI get out of its economic doldrums, which has been battered by the demise of the garment industry and reeling from slow tourism numbers.

“It’s really timely. The other day we received a report on the sad state of our economy here…so this would be the first step in trying to turns things around and not make it go further south,” he said. “With that grant we will hire an economist that will come here and help us develop a development plan,”

The acting governor said the economist will help industries identified in last year’s labor and economic forum that the CNMI should focus on—agriculture, tourism, and education.

Babauta said the $1 million grant is a good start in the revitalization of the CNMI and he sees agriculture as a potential industry that could thrive.

“There’s a large potential for agriculture and the benefit of it is it keeps all of that money. It keeps jobs in the community and it keeps the money within the community circulating. I think there needs more collaboration within the region, specifically in the Marianas. Specially when you have Guam where there’s great need there that can be filled. There are less farmers in Guam right now than there are in the CNMI,” he said.