Projects

Geo-thermal energyGeneral description

In the field of geo-thermal energy, ENAP participates in two companies that are investigating the potential of this non-conventional renewable resource: Empresa Nacional de Geotermia S.A. and Geotérmica del Norte S.A. in association with the Italian company ENEL, with 49% and 44 % shareholdings respectively. The object of these companies is to use the geo-thermal energy gushing from underground for different productive processes, whether from the production of electricity or the use of steam.

In April 2005, ENAP completed a strategic alliance with the Italian company Ente Nazionale per l'Energia Elettrica (ENEL) for the development of geo-thermal exploration and production projects in Chile. This was carried out by the acquisition by ENEL of a 51% shareholding in Empresa Nacional de Geotermia S.A. (ENG), a company in which ENAP holds the remaining 49%. In March 2006, this strategic alliance was widened with the acquisition by ENEL of 51% of the shares in Geotérmica del Norte S.A. (GDN), the remaining 49% of the shares being held by ENAP and CODELCO, with 44% and 5% respectively.

Law 19,657, Geo-Thermal Energy Concessions, promulgated on January 7, 2000, permits the participation of ENAP in this industry and to take part in companies for developing this business with a shareholding of less than 50%. ENAP has thus become associated with top-level Chilean and international operative companies for developing this non-conventional renewable energy to the highest standards.

Sustainable energy

The basic principle for electricity generation from geothermal sources consists of the drilling of wells which draw the fluid stored on the earth’s crust (at high temperatures) to the surface and then separate the steam and saline waters. The liquids are returned to the deposit and the steam that arises at high pressure is taken by tubes to a plant where it passes through a turbine to produce electricity.

According to the Kyoto Protocol, geothermal generation is one of the mildest ways of generating electricity. Unlike solar energy, it does not require large areas of land, and does not require the flooding of valleys and hillsides as in the case of hydroelectric generation.

Geothermal generation is also more reliable than other ecological energy sources as the plants that use this energy source are the safest yet known, with reliability factors of over 96%.