The much anticipated Latin American geothermal exploration/drilling fund is opening its doors for business. The Geothermal Development Facility, whose objective is to encourage public and/or private investment in geothermal power development in Latin America, has issued its first call for Expressions of Interest, to be submitted by January 15, 2017.
Interested applicants may submit a proposal for surface study funding up to €600,000 and contingency drilling grants up to €5.8 million.
The following countries are eligible for consideration within the Andean Region: Bolivia, Chile, Colombia, Ecuador, and Perú. Within Central America, eligible countries are: Costa Rica, El Salvador, Guatemala, Honduras, and Nicaragua.
Funding is available for the following activities:
- Geoscientific surface studies to determine the optimal location of reservoir-confirmation wells at the most promising geothermal prospects.
- Drilling and testing of reservoir-confirmation wells at the most promising geothermal prospects to assist developers in securing financing for subsequent development phases.
The facility will be designed to allow further participation of, and contributions by interested donors and financiers. The goal of the facility is to catalyze development of a minimum of 7 geothermal plants in Latin America with a cumulative capacity of at least 350 MW at a total estimated investment of at least €1 Billion with the optimistic target being €2 Billion.
The German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), via KfW Entwicklungsbank (KfW), established the Geothermal Development Facility (GDF) for Latin America.The GDF is the first multidonor climate initiative to promote geothermal energy within this region.
