ANTOFAGASTA – Chilean President Michelle Bachelet yesterday inaugurated the geothermal energy plant of Cerro Pabellon in the northern region of Antofagasta.
The 48 MW geothermal plant located at 4,500 meters above sea level in the Ollagüe district, is the first of its kind in South America, and the first in the world to be built at such a high altitude.
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The 320 million dollars plant is owned by Geotérmica del Norte (GDN), the joint venture between Enel Green Power Chile (83.65%) and Enap (16.35%).
“This is the kind of projects that does good to Chile. It generates investments, it brings technological innovation, it creates bases for sustainable development and there is a strong bet for training human capital,” Bachelet said on the occasion.
The geothermal power plant generates electricity from the earth vapors. It is considered a basic kind of energy, because of its high availability and supply security.
The plant has two twin units with a capacity of 24 Megawatts, which produce 48 Megawatts in total.
Once in operation, the plant will generate 340 Megawatts a year, equivalent to the annual consumption on energy for 165,000 families, avoiding the emission of more than 166,000 tons of CO2 to the atmosphere every year.
