Enel Green Power in Chile expects that the third unit currently under construction at its Cerro Pabellón geothermal power plant will start operation in the second half of 2020.In recent call for analysts, Enel Chile SA shared details on its operations and business in Chile, including the Cerro Pabellón geothermal power plant.
The company continues on its decarbonization plan. It plans to stop of operation of the 182 MW Tarapacá coal power plant in December 2019 and start all necessary activities to the decomissioning of this core facility for the company in Chile. The company has started construction on the Campos del Sol 382 MW solar power plant and the expansion of the Cerro Pabellón geothermal power plant.
Enel Green Power in Chile is working on the expansion of its 48 MW Cerro Pabellón geothermal power plant in the North of the country with the third unit and expects it to come online in the second half of 2020. The expansion is to add 33 MW of power generation capacity to bring the total capacity up to 82 MW. The first unit was put into operation March 2017, the second unit in June 2017.
The Cerro Pabellón geothermal power plant was developed and is operated by Geotermica del Norte SA, a joint venture between Enel Green Power Chile and Chilean state-owned oil company Empresa Nacional del Petroleo SA (ENAP). Enel owns 84.6% in the joint venture. The company reported the start of construction in August 2019.
The expansion has an estimated investment volume of around USD 100 million. Here a great presentation by Guido Capetti, general manager of Geotérmica del Norte at the GEOLAC conference July 2019.
