News

GeoGlobal Energy plans to invest US$226 million in Chile

GeoGlobal Energy plans to invest US$226 million in Chile GeoGlobal project site, Chile (source: GeoGlobal Energy)
Alexander Richter 20 Mar 2010

GGE Chile Spa, a unit of New Zealand’s GeoGlobal Energy, will invest $226 million to produce geothermal energy in southern Chile.

Reported from South America, “GGE Chile Spa, a unit of New Zealand’s GeoGlobal Energy, will invest $226 million to produce geothermal energy in southern Chile, the Mining Ministry said in a decree published in the Official Daily.

GGE Chile Spa won the rights to produce geothermal energy in a 7,800-hectare (19,529-acre) area in San Gregorio district, located between the Bio Bio and La Araucania regions, some 600 kilometers (373 miles) south of the capital.

The company won the bidding in June 2009 for exploration rights in the area, where studies had been conducted since 2004, and it bid for production rights a month later.

The goal of the project is to use geothermal energy to generate electricity, the Mining Ministry said.

GGE Chile Spa plans to spread its investment in the geothermal project over a three-year period.

The company plans to build two geothermal power plants, with one, a 9.4 MW plant, costing $38.3 million, while the other, a 70 MW plant, will have a price tag of $187.7 million.”

Source: Latin American Herald Tribune