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Wednesday, February 22, 2017

Italy: Using Geothermal Heat to Grow Special Algae

Tuscan Geothermal to Cultivate an Aztec “Superfood” (News Release)

(Courtesy Wikipedia Commons)
Using steam from the earth to cultivate what the Mayans and Aztecs called the “food of the gods”. That’s what’s happening in the geothermal area of Tuscany (Italy) thanks to an agreement between Enel Green Power and the Consortium for the Development of Geothermal Areas (CoSviG), which brings tradition, local entrepreneurship and innovation together in one single project. Geothermal energy will be used to cultivate spirulina algae.

On 13 January, in Larderello, Enel Green Power signed an “Agreement of collaboration for experimentation on geothermal resources applied to the cultivation of algae” with CoSviG: the two sides will put up 100,000 euros each towards the construction of a pilot plant, which will be built next to the Chiusdino geothermal plant, for the production of spirulina algae using geothermal energy.