Enel reports record geothermal power production of 5,301 GWh
Lardarello geothermal power plant by Enel, Tuscany/ Italy
Alexander Richter
7 Feb 2014
Last year Italy based Enel Green Power’s geothermal power plants achieved a new production record of 5,301 GWh, a level of production that can meet the average annual needs of more than two million households.
Geothermal energy in Tuscany has begun 2014 with a new record, with Enel Green Power’s geothermal production figures showing that 2013 saw an unprecedented production of 5,301 gigawatt-hours.
That level of production is enough to meet the annual energy needs of more than two million households and provide sufficient heat to around 9,000 customers, 25 hectares of greenhouses, cheese factories, and feed an important agricultural, gastronomic and touristic supply chain.
Pending the official data on regional consumption, which will enable the calculation of coverage compared to Tuscany’s electricity needs, it’s important to note that the figures are the highest in 100 years of activity.
It’s also a demonstration of how geothermal power is a genuinely renewable resource, which does not run out but rather, if well managed through of the reinjection of discharged water and technological innovation, can even be made to perform better.
The data on production is the high point of a truly exceptional year for geothermal power in Tuscany and for Enel Green Power: from the signature of the new Memorandum of Understanding with the region aimed at creating linked geothermal industries and the refurbishment of the Piancastagnaio plant, to the inauguration of the Geothermal Museum at the Enel Green Power Village in Larderello in September.
In Larderello and elsewhere in Tuscany Enel Green Power manages the oldest network of geothermal facilities in the world, with 33 facilities that have a combined capacity of 732 megawatts located in Larderello, Radicondoli, Lago Boracifero and Piancastagnaio/Amiata.
