| Abstract |
In Portugal, the presence of high temperature geothermal resources is restricted to the volcanic islands of the Azores, which are associated with the triple junction of the North American, Eurasian and African plates. New investment projects at the Ribeira Grande geothermal field on the island of São Miguel, implemented by SOGEO (Sociedade Geotérmica dos Açores, S.A.), have more than doubled the installed generation capacity in the Azores to a total of 23 MW net, with the contribution of the new Pico Vermelho plant (10 MW net), which went into production in November 2006. Thus, power production from geothermal resources in the Azores presently meets 39% of the needs of São Miguel, and over 20% of the total demand of the archipelago. On Terceira island, where the installation of a 12 MW net plant is planned, deep exploratory drilling conducted at the Pico Alto field has found a maximum temperature of 312ºC. An extensive drilling campaign at the Ribeira Grande and Pico Alto fields is underway, to provide additional production and injection capacity for new investments that are intended to increase the geothermal contribution to power generation in the Azores to 75% by 2018. Therefore, geothermal is expected to assume an even more impressive role for the power self-sufficiency of this region. Low-temperature geothermal resources in mainland Portugal are exploited for direct uses in balneotherapy, small heating systems and heat pumps. In 2008, private investors obtained concession rights for exploration of geothermal resources for a total area of 2655 km2, aiming the future development of small scale generation projects. These EGS projects are expected by the government to achieve up to 12 MW net of generation capacity. |