(Mar. 27) – Enel Green Power won three licenses for geothermal explorations in Chile, as result of a tender issued by the Ministry of Energy in 2010. The first award, named “Colorado”, consists of 1.800 hectares in the region of Antofagasta, 1.000 kilometers north of Santiago. The second grant, “San Jose I”, covers 74.801 hectares located in the metropolitan area about 50 miles east of Santiago, while the third, called “Yeguas Muertas”, with 74.101 hectares, is located between the metropolitan and O’Higgins region, 70 km southeast of Santiago. Thanks to these three new concessions, Enel Green Power has confirmed its leadership in the development of geothermal energy in the Chilean market. Indeed Geothermal del Norte (GDN), a subsidiary of Enel Green Power, is in the process of constructing the first geothermal power plant in South America. It will be the Cerro Pabellón, a 40 MW system located in the region of Antofagasta. Along with its other subsidiary Empresa Nacional de Geotermia (ENG), Enel Green Power has now 8 geothermal concessions in Chile. The Italian company has already a geothermal capacity of about 775 MW between Italy and North America and is working on further developments in Italy, USA, Turkey and Central America. (Ram/Peg)
