Argentina Country Update

Abstract

A remarkable development of geothermal resources has continued to take place in the last years due to the discovery of new thermal areas linked to sedimentary basins that belong together with the conductive hydrothermal systems and the advance in the investigation of thermal fields of high enthalpy. This has allowed development of new therapeutic-recreational complexes that generate a new economic alternative for the different regions of the country and an encouraging prospect is foreseen for the starting up of an energy generating plant.
Geothermal studies were carried out in 20 areas, arriving to the Development and Exploitation Stage in 14 of them and up to the Prefeasibility Stage in three. The advance in the characterization as much as in the chemical composition of their waters like in the litho-stratigraphy of the Thermal Basins allowed studies to go into knowledge in depth in the Chaco-Paraná basin and to specify their thermal system.
With regards to the thermal fields of high enthalpy studies, they continued in Copahue, Domuyo and Tuzgle. The Copahue geothermal field is the project with the largest development grade. The economical changes and the energy crisis motivated the carrying out of new technical-economic studies which indicate the viability 30 MW or more that can be developed in the area of Copahue in a first stage. In Tuzgle and Domuyo the second stage of prefeasibility has been concluded, establishing the geothermal pattern and defining the area of major economical importance, where exploration wells are scheduled to be made.