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Welcome to our page with data for Argentina

ELECTRICITY GENERATION
 
There is no installed geothermal generating capacity as for December 2009.
 

The only geothermal plant of the country, the small demonstration binary unit of Copahue (670 kW), installed in 1988 has been decommissioned in 1996. It was powered by a single well with 171°C fluid, at 800-1,200 m depth and flow rate of about 2 kg/s. A new plant for 30 MW in that site is under consideration. Six other projects are at different stage of development, even if the geothermal electricity contribution of the country is expected to be modest.

Taken from Ruggero Bertani’s paper, " Geothermal Power Generation in the World 2005–2010 Update Report ", published in Proceedings of the World Geothermal Congress 2010, Bali, Indonesia, 25-29 April 2010.    

 

DIRECT USES
 
Total thermal installed capacity in MWt:
307.47
Direct use in TJ/year
3,906.74
Direct use in GWh/year
1,085.3
Capacity factor
0.40
 

Development of geothermal resources increased in the last few years with the discovery of new thermal areas linked to sedimentary basins that belong to the hydrothermal conductive system, along with advanced research of high enthalpy thermal fields. This allowed the development of new therapeutic-recreational complexes that generated income for different regions of the country.

During the last five years 11 new projects were started and are now in the exploration field for direct-use. These projects are being considered for recreational therapeutic facilities and to supply drinking water to nearby towns.

At present there are 64 bathing and swimming development, two greenhouse sites, two fish farms, one snow melting site, and three space heating sites. A summary of the installed capacity and annual energy uses for the various sites were provided, however, several uses had to be estimated from combined uses by one of the authors (Boyd).

The various applications of geothermal direct use are:

22.25 MWt and 295.82 TJ/yr for individual space heating;
20.44 MWt and 269.95 TJ/yr for greenhouse heating;
19.9 MWt and 252.92 TJ/yr for fish farming;
2.00 MWt and 15.14 TJ/yr for snow melting (at Copahue in the Andes);
91.36 MWt and 2,169.74 TJ/yr for bathing and swimming;
1.62 MWt and 44.62 TJ/yr for other uses (water consumption);
149.90 MWt and 858.55 TJ/yr for geothermal heat pumps.

The total for the country is 307.47 MWt and 3,906.74 TJ/yr.

Taken from the paper by John W. Lund, Derek H. Freeston, and Tonya L. Boyd: "Direct Utilization of Geothermal Energy 2010 Worldwide Review"; published in Proceedings of the World Geothermal Congress 2010, Bali, Indonesia, 25-29 April 2010