A new geothermal power plant opens in the Azores Islands

21 November 2017
The Azorean Fellows with Malfridur Omarsdottir, UNU-GTP
The Azorean Fellows with Malfridur Omarsdottir, UNU-GTP

A new geothermal power plant Pico Alto power plant was opened on Terceira Island, Azores on Monday 20. November 2017.  The plant consists of a ORC binary technology unit with 3,5 MWnet capacity.  It is estimated that the annual production of will reach 21 GW in 2018 providing 10% of the islands energy needs. 

This power plant was built as a part of the Renewable Energy Programme Area under the European Economic Area Financial Mechanism supported by Orkustofnun.  The Programme included the installation of a 3 MW geothermal power plant to increase the share of renewables in the Azores and three support initiatives to advanced and specialised training in geothermal energy.  The Programme started in 2013 and will be completed in December 2017. 

The UNU-GTP conducted six short courses where 12 staff members of EDA RENOVÁEIS and 2 students of the University of Azores underwent advanced training in exploration and exploitation of geothermal resources under the EEA grant scheme.  The training included theoretical lectures complemented by practical exercises and fieldwork.  Further information on the courses can be found here

In 2014 and 2015 four staff members of EDA RENOVÁEIS participated in the annual six-month specialised training at UNU-GTP.  They were Maria Rangel (reservoir engineering), Valdemar Pereira, (drilling engineer), Nuno Vieria (geothermal utilisation), and Antonio Franco (geothermal geology).  The specialised training was completed with a final report project published in the annual yearbook Geothermal Training in Iceland and each report from the respective year is available here