The Government will send a bill to the Congress aimed at promoting new geothermal projects (El Mercurio de Antofagasta)
The Minister of Energy of Chile Mrs. Susana Jimenez announced her Government´s commitment to develop geothermal energy saying that she will push to update and improve the current geothermal law to expedite the development of the technology in Chile. - Thanks to Gonzalo Torres Macchiavello, Country Head Chile, Energy Development Corporation for the translation.
Energy. The electric potential measured in the country reaches 3,800 MW, 72% of which is located between Arica and Antofagasta.
A possible exploitable geothermal potential that ranges between 1,300 MW and 3,800 MW, 72% of which is concentrated between the Arica and Parinacota and Antofagasta regions, was recently calculated for the country as part of the Geothermal Roundtable. To take advantage of this resource, the Minister of Energy, Susana Jiménez, announced that they will send a bill to the Congress aimed at promoting new generation projects that use this renewable source.
Effectively, the Geothermal Roundtable was a public-private meeting whose purpose was determining the current status of geothermal projects in Chile and finding solutions allowing these projects to become an economical alternative for the development of the energy sector. Similarly, identifying the advantages of its incorporation within the operation of the electricity system and finding possible actions to be taken to achieve a greater use of this energy source.
Among its results, it concluded that there has been enough exploration in Chile to calculate the technically exploitable potential of the explored areas, ranging from 1,300 MW to 3,800 MW, and with a range of investments between US$ 9,000 and US$ 25,000 million.
72% of the geothermal potential for electricity production is concentrated in the mountain range of Arica and Parinacota, Tarapacá and Antofagasta regions.
The other 28% is distributed in the existing mountain range between the Metropolitan and Los Lagos Region. It is worth mentioning that our country concentrates more than 25% of the active volcanoes in the world.
