Argentina Seeks Bids for 30 MW Geothermal Plant

摘要

The province of Neuquen, in Argentina's Patagonia region, on May 28 opened a tender process for the construction of a $60 million, 30 megawatt geothermal plant to produce electricity from vapor spewed by a hotspot found last year on the Andes Mountains. The Copahue geothermal project, at an altitude of 2,000 meters (6,560 feet), is expected to accrue €1.5 million ($2.1 million) under the Kyoto Protocol's Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) over a 21-year-period, the Neuquen government said. The CDM allows industrial nations to invest in developing countries' greenhouse gas emissions-reduction projects as an alternative to cutting their own emissions. The provincial Investment and Promotion Agency handling the tender process is expected to announce the winner of the tender process in October. The state-run utility Energia Argentina Sociedad Anonima (Enarsa) earlier in May launched a bid to purchase 1,000 MW of electricity produced by renewable sources throughout the country, including 30 MW from geothermal ventures, in order to cut greenhouse gas emissions (32 INER 446, 5/27/09).