Fifteen Years of Development of Los Azufres Geothermal Field, Mexico

Abstract

At the Los Azufres, Mexico geothermal jluid and energy have been extracted since 1980, although its intense exploitation began by 1982. Today, it an installed capacity of 98 which make this reservoir the second in importance in Mexico, and the first in generating electricity from located in volcanic fractured rock. This hydrothermal system was thoroughly studied since the beginning of its exploitation. Technical and scientific information generated by the continuous observation of the field, is numerous. Geochemical, geophysical and geological traditional studies, are supplemented by mineralogy of hydrothermal alteration, jluid inclusions, core analysis, pressure tests, aeromagnetic surveys and image studies. The waste liquid is continuously injected at Los Azufres. reinjection is accompanied by some incidental admission atmospheric air. This has resulted in an improvement on heat recovery and in the development of a simple and cheap method to estimate three-dimensional distribution of permeability. The pressure decrement at sectors subject to intense exploitation, has an average value of 1.02 Decrement of produced vapour, obtained comparing representative jluid rates at the beginning of exploitation to present values, is in average, equal to 1.0 of s t e m every year for those sectors.