Energy Development Corp. plans to participate in the auctions for new geothermal contracts in Chile and Peru as part of its expansion program, a top executive said.
“We’re preparing for the auctions in Chile and Peru…The system in Chile, the national grid is the one that auctions. There’s an auction next year, second quarter,” EDC president Richard Tantoco said.
He said the new concession area in Chile that the company was looking at could produce about 150 megawatts of geothermal capacity.
EDC already has a stake in the Mariposa project, located in the Andes Mountains 300 km south of the capital city of Santiago. The project covers two geothermal exploitation concessions, Pellado and Laguna del Maule. The rights to these concessions are owned by Compañía de Energía Limitada where affiliates of EDC and Canada-based Alterra Power Corp. hold 70-percent and 30-percent stakes, respectively.
EDC hold stakes in five concessions and 19 applications in Chile and Peru. The company acquired the local subsidiaries of Australian geothermal firm Hot Rock Ltd. and signed joint venture agreements with TSX-listed and global renewable energy player Alterra Power.
“Peru has good concession, big ones but we are waiting for the auction of the government. What is nice in Peru is it auctions the capacity by technology. Auction for solar, auction for geothermal,” Tantoco said.
EDC announced earlier that its Chile and Peru geothermal projects had the potential to generate at least 800 MW.
Tantoco said preparations were also ongoing for developing EDC’s Indonesian geothermal prospects.
The company already completed its survey activities in GrahoNyabu in Sumatra. The results of the initiative will be used by the Indonesian Ministry of Energy and Mineral Resources for its upcoming tender for the GrahoNyabu concession.”‹
