Approved 20 geothermal exploration areas in Chile
Laguna y volcán miscanti atacama, Chile (source: flicr/ pirindao, creative commons)
Abraham Ormad
20 Apr 2012
The Chilean Ministry of Energy has successfully completed the bidding for 20 exploration areas which are located in eight regions of the country, concentrating on the central north.
Chile wants to become a leader in geothermal energy and proof of which is the investment registered for geothermal exploration. The commitments made by different companies amount to about US$ 250 million covering an area of one million hectares for studies of potential geothermal reservoirs.
13 companies were submitted to a process that received 70 bids for the different areas of the tender.
The geothermal energy concessions which began on September 2010, and no area was not awarded, have shown the great interest of companies to participate in this tender. The awards were notified to the companies in December 2011, the date on which the decrees entered in processing of legality in the General Comptroller of the Republic. Finally, on April 2012 was the last decree of execution.
Chile has an important natural potential for developing geothermal energy resources and considering only preliminary estimates, the minimum potential for electricity generation excess of 3.500 MW.
The companies selected are;
- Ormat Andina Energía Limitada
- Energy Development (EDC) Corporation Chile Limitada
- Origin Energy Chile S.A
- Transmark Chile SpA
- Compañía Minera Zaldívar Limitada
- Enel Latin America (Chile) Limitada
- Minera Escondida Limitada
- Energía Andina S.A.
- Origin Energy Chile S.A.
More details about the areas and regions in this link
Source Chilean Ministry of Energy
Written by A.Ormad
