| Abstract |
El Salvador, a country of 5.7 million inhabitants in the heart of Central America, is the smallest (21, 041 km2) and one of the most densely populated countries in the region (277 inhabitants per square kilometer). Geothermal has been one of the main sources of electricity since the mid-1970’s, when Ahuachapán power plant came on line. By the 1990’s Berlín power plant started in operation. Today the country has a competitive electricity market, and geothermal sources provide 25% of the electricity needs. The total installed capacity from geothermal resources in the country is at present 204.4 MW: 95.0 MW for Ahuachapán double flash power plant, and 100.2 MW at Berlín for single flash plant plus 9.2 MW from bottoming binary cycle. The Geothermal energy production has increased from 410 GWh since 1995 to 936.4 GWh in 2002, 1,293 GWh in 2007 and 1,421 GWh by the end of 2008. Peak demand in El Salvador is 924 MW, yearly demand is 5,655 GWh, both with a growth rate around 5%/year. Today the country has a competitive electricity market, and geothermal sources provide 25% of the electricity needs. The developing plans for LaGeo (2010 – 2015), are considering: 28 MW Unit 5 for Berlín, 5 - 9 MW, re-powering of Unit 2 of Ahuachapán, 50 MW Chinameca developments. |