Guatemala’s El Ceibillo geothermal project awarded grant

U.S. Geothermal Guatemala S.A., a wholly owned subsidiary of U.S. Geothermal, Inc., has been awarded a $825,319 grant from the U. S. Trade and Development Agency (USTDA, https://www.ustda.gov/).  The grant provides funding for a feasibility study on the El Ceibillo Geothermal Power Plant Project, which will be led by POWER Engineers, Incorporated, headquartered in Hailey, Idaho.  The scope of the study is to update the resource evaluation, power plant design, financial analysis, environmental and regulatory review, and EPC technical specifications and bid package evaluations, in order to advance the Project to a construction-ready state.  The company anticipates the study will begin within the next two months, with scheduled completion by the end of 2018.

Expenditures at El Ceibillo are being carefully controlled until we evidence becomes clear that the energy market is advancing in Guatemala.  The Guatemalan Government announced earlier this year that a Request For Proposals (RFP) for 420 megawatts of energy, which included 40 megawatts for geothermal, was going to be issued in 2017.  There is still no indication of when that RFP may be issued.

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