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Bolivia to explore future of Laguna Colorada geothermal project build out

Bolivia to explore future of Laguna Colorada geothermal project build out Laguna Colorado construction update (source: video screenshot, Sacyr website)
Alexander Richter 25 Apr 2022

A new hiring process is to kick start for evaluation work on the build out of the Laguna Colorada geothermal project in Bolivia.

Latin America’s leading energy news platform BN Americas shares an interesting update on Bolivia’s geothermal ambitions. It reports that the country’s state power company Ende is planning a new hiring process next month on a scoping project to determine the future of the 100 MW Laguna Colorada geothermal project, we have been reporting on.

The company is exploring if there are possible local consultancy players to be engaged of if it could be required to hire an international firm. The 3-4 month work contract is to evaluate the economic viability of the project both in the context of the national and international energy market. The consultancy work is to include a review of the conceptual engineering and technical studies.

The previous call for expressions was postponed several times and failed to determine viable proponents.  Reasons for the challenges seem to be current installed power generation capacity of 3,000 MW with a peak load demand of only around 1,500 MW. Export opportunities to neighbouring countries seems also to be challenging.

The Laguna Colorada project sees currently the final construction efforts for a 5 MW geothermal pilot plant built by a consortium of Sacyr and Ormat Technologies. The project site is located at around 4,700 meters above sea level and in rather challenging environment and is expected to start operations this year. A 50 MW development was foreseen following the start of the pilot plant project with the opportunity to expand up to 100 MW.

Some details on the pilot project by Ende can be found here.

For the full article see the link below.

Source: BN Americas