Cerro Pabellón 3 Geothermal Plant

Built by Geotérmica del Norte – GDN, a joint venture between Enel Green Power Chile and ENAP, the plant, which uses high-enthalpy binary cycle technology, is the only geothermal plant in operation in South America and the highest of its kind in the world, as it is located at 4,500 meters above sea level.

This plant has two units with a installed capacity of 24 MW each for a total capacity of 48 MW and Enel is currently developing part 3 of the project, which is the installation of a third unit. In full operation, Cerro Pabellón is expected to be capable of producing around 340 GWh per year, which is equivalent to the annual consumption needs of more than 165,000 Chilean households, avoiding the emission of more than 166,000 tons of CO2 into the atmosphere each year.

PA Engineering developed the Gathering System Detail Engineering of Cerro Pabellón 3, with scope of the structural, electrical and instrumental civil disciplines and control. The third unit is expected to come into operation in 2021, as reported by Enel Greenpower on its website.