Quarterly No. 61

July – September 2005

IGA
NEWS
Newsletter of the International Geothermal Association
IGA ACTIVITIES
Message from the President
John W. Lund, President
IGA activity has settled down since the World Geothermal
Congress 2005 in Antalya, Turkey; however, reports
and funding are still being finalized. Work has alreadystarted on WGC2010 in Bali, Indonesia, and the various
committees will soon be formed. We are still waiting on
funding support for various projects within IGA from theWorld Bank/GeoFund, along with paying for fellowships
from WGC2005. Kiril Popovski has started planning for
the International Summer School Workshop/Conference“International Geothermal Days – Ukraine 2006” inOdesa, Ukraine for 17-22 September 2006. Dr. Popovski
can be contacted at: isskiril@sonet.com.mk for details.
Gordon Bloomquist is finalizing the “Mineral Extraction
from Geothermal Brines” workshop in PetropavlovskKamchatka, Russia for September 12-16, 2005 in cooperation with the Russian Geothermal Society. Dr. Bloomquist
can be contacted at: bloomquistr@energy.wsu.edu for
details. The IGA Board of Directors will have their next
meeting in Beijing, China during 13-14 September 2005
in conjunction with a symposium honoring the 20th
anniversary of the Geothermal Council of China Energy
Society (GCES). A number of the IGA board members
will be presenting papers at this symposium.

IGA ACTIVITIES
Message from the President
Photographs of WGC2005

EUROPE
Germany
Iceland
Iceland
Italy
Portugal/ The geothermal project SuperC
2/ICEIDA and Geothermal Development 4/Strong participation of UNU-GTP
at WGC 2005
5
/EU training programme in geothermal 5/Pico Vermelho geothermal project6

THE AMERICAS
Chile

Nicaragua
Nicaragua
USA/ENEL and ENAP sign an agreement
for the geothermal developmentof Chile8/ Another Geothermal Power
Project In Nicaragua Successful
9/ Bids received for two
projects in Nicaragua
9/ US production tax credits extended
to cover geothermal energy
10

AFRICA
Kenya/Workshop for decision makers on
geothermal projects in Africa

Two world geothermal overview papers, one on electric
power and the other on direct-use, were presented at
WGC2005 based mainly on country update papers submitted to the congress. These have subsequently been
updated by Ruggero Bertani (electric power) and John
Lund, Derek Freeston and Tonya Boyd (direct-use) for
publication in an upcoming issue of Geothermics. A summary of these revised numbers follows:

ASIA/PACIFIC RIM

Installed
Power
Use
MW
Electric Power 8,932
Direct-Use
28,268

Geothermal meetings

AnnualEnergy Use Capacity Countries
GWh/yr
Factor Reporting
56,9510.73
2475,943
0.31
72

1
2

10

China
Japan

/The first geothermal village in China 11/Heat pump survives magnitude
7.0 earthquake in Fukuoka
12Philippines / Update on the Philippine
Renewable Energy (RE) Bill
14

UPCOMING EVENTS
14

Fuel Oil (106) Carbon (106 tonnes)
Barrels Tonnes
NG Oil Coal
267
40
8 37 43

CO2 (106 tonnes)
NG Oil Coal
27 113 131

Fuel oil, carbon and CO2 savings from geothermal energy Note: the fuel oil savings is equivalent to about 3.5 days
productionof world-wide consumption.

July – September 2005

2
Rankings for electrical power production (top 10 countries)

Country
USA
Philippines
MexicoIndonesia
Italy
Japan
New Zealand
Iceland
Costa Rica
Kenya

Installed
Capacity
(MW)
2 564
1 931
953
797
790
535
435
202
163
129

Annual Energy
Produced(GWh/yr)
17 917
9 419
6 282
6 085
5 340
3 467
2 774
1 483
1 145
1 088

Capacity
Factor
0.80
0.56
0.75
0.87
0.77
0.74
0.73
0.84
0.80
0.96

gas plants; however, with the recent increase in fossil fuelprices, along with some favorable tax incentives being
considered in the United States, I expect to see the growthof electric power increase substantially by WGC2010.

Photographs of WGC2005
Trevor Hunt, Chairman Publications and Information
Subcommittee, WGC2005
Some photographs taken at the Congress Dinner have now
been placed on the official website, and can be downloaded as .jpg files. Photographs taken at the Opening andClosing ceremonies, Turkish Night and Exhibition will
also be placed on the website soon. Keep checking thewebsite: www.wgc2005.org

Ranking for direct-use (top 10 countries) (including geothermal heat pumps)
USA
SwedenChina
IcelandTurkeyJapan
Italy
NorwaySwitzerland
Germany

7 817
3 840
3 687
1 844
1 495
822
607
600
582
505

8 678
10 001
12 605
6 806
6 900
2 862
2 098
857
1 175
808

0.13
0.30
0.39
0.42
0.53
0.40
0.39
0.16
0.23
0.18

However, the values for countries such as USA, Sweden,
Norway, Switzerland and Germany are based mainly on
geothermal heat pumps, as reflected in the low capacity factors.
If the traditional direct-uses (excluding
geothermal heat pumps) were only considered, thenthe rankings would be China, Iceland, Turkey, Japan,
Hungary, USA, Italy, Brazil, Russia and New Zealand (forinstalled capacity), and China, Turkey, Iceland, Japan,
USA, Hungary, New Zealand, Italy, Brazil and Russia (forannual energy use). If we just considered geothermal heatpumps, then the order would be USA, Sweden, Denmark,China, Switzerland, Norway, Canada, Germany, Austria
and Finland (installed capacity), and Sweden, USA,
China, Denmark, Switzerland, Norway, Germany, Canada,
Finland and Austria (annual energy use). If energy use perland area and/or population were considered, then many of
the smaller countries would rank high.
In summary, over the past five years (since WGC2000),
almost 1000 MWe electric were brought on line alongwith about 13,000 MWt of direct-use, the latter mainlyin the form of heat pumps. The growth in the electric
power industry has increased 2.9% annually in bothinstalled capacity and energy produced, and direct-use has
increased 13.2% annually in installed capacity and 7.5%
in energy produced. The low growth rate for electric
power is due mainly to the low cost of competing natural
No. 61EUROPE
Germany
The Geothermal Project “SuperC” of RWTH
Aachen University
Phase I: The well “RWTH-1”
By Christoph Herzog, Stefan Lundershausen, Christian
Niemann-Delius and Axel Preuße
RWTH Aachen University plans to build a new students’service centre next to the main building. For this purpose anarchitectural competition was carried out in the year 2000.
This competition was won by two architects from Aachen:
Eva-Maria Pape and Susi Fritzer. As their layout looks likea giant “C” the building is called “SuperC” (fig. 1).
This building, which is going to be built in 2006, will
be equipped with a cooling and heating system based on
geothermal energy. Geothermal heat will be recoveredon site by a deep geothermal heat exchanger (DHE). The
DHE is a closed system which consists of an outer steel
casing and an inner production pipe. Water as heat fluid
is supposed to be circulated through this coaxial pipe
system taking up the heat from the outside rocks andtransporting it to the surface for further use in the building. Any exchange of matter between the DHE and thesurrounding rocks is avoided which allows the system to
be installed even in sensitive groundwater areas like the
Aachen thermal spring system. This conception makes
the system independent of any favourable hydrogeologic
conditions. With a calculated capacity of 450 kW the deep
heat exchanger is supposed to cover 80 % of the building’s
heat demand.
The necessary geothermal well “RWTH-1” was real-3

Fig. 1: Visualisation of the “SuperC”-building [FRITZER& PAPE 2000]
ized within the project “SuperC”. This project was fundedby the European Union in the “LifeIII-Environment”Program under the main topic “Reduction of CO2Emissions”. The project follows two main goals: drilling
operation including the completion of the DHE and theinstallation of a multi-level heating system inside thebuilding. As geoscientific research could not be financedby the geothermal project, an individual research project comprising the geoscientific branches of the RWTH
Aachen was developed in cooperation with the Geological
Survey of Northrhine-Westfalia and finally funded by theGerman Research Foundation (DFG). In accordance withGerman mining law, RWTH Aachen University applied
for a scientific and economic licence for the explorationof geothermal heat. The scientific concession covers an
area of approximately 214 km2 and includes the smaller
economic field, which covers all the University’s properties in Aachen. Since March 2001 the given licences make
RWTH Aachen University the first German university
with its own mining permission.
Aiming at exploring geothermal heat directly on thesite of the SuperC building, the 2,500 m deep geothermal
well “RWTH-1” was drilled between June and December
2004 at the prominent but small location on the inner city
campus next to the university’s main building (fig. 1 andfig. 3). Special attention was paid to protect the neighbourhood (university employees nearly on-site and first inhabitants some 150 m away) from emissions, mainly noise
emissions during the drilling operation (fig. 2).
Due to a lack of deep geological information a prediction of the strata to be drilled was difficult. The technicalplanning was based on two geological profiles based on
two different tectonic models for the Aachen area. The
drilled rocks were mainly paleozoic shales, siltstones andsandstones and at a lower level limestones and coals of the
Carboniferous and Upper Devonian.
The borehole was designed as a vertical well with respect
to the demanded minimum (casing) diameter of approximately 20 cm at total depth (TD). Technical preparations

Fig. 2: Noise emission prognosis [HEITKÄMPER 2003]
were made to deal with possible mud losses in a lower
carboniferous limestone known as “Kohlenkalk”. Due to
expected Upper Carboniferous quartzitic conglomerates
the well was drilled basically with standard tricone bits at
a diameter of 23’’, 17 1⁄2’’ and 8 1⁄2’’ (fig. 3). The averagerate of penetration was between 1.5 and 2.2 m/h (net).

Fig. 3: Planned and realized well scheme[LUNDERSHAUSEN 2004]
In the 8 1⁄2’’ section below 1,263 m three intervals
were cored to gain rock material for scientific purposes.
Apart from severe bit damage due to high wear the
expected technical problems concerning well instability
or mud losses did not occur. Total depth was reached at
2,544.5 m after a drilling time of 140 days, corresponding
to a true vertical depth of 2,498 m. The open hole sections
were examined intensively by geophysical means to gain
both necessary technical and scientific data. A temperature measurement carried out in January 2005 showed aroughly constant increase in temperature up to 72.5 °C at
the bottom of the well. An influence of the drilling process
July – September 2005

4
on rock temperature is likely, as a second run in April 2005
delivered nearly 81 °C at TD.

Fig. 4: Depth vs. time [LUNDERSHAUSEN 2004]
Within the annulus of the anchor pipe and the intermediate casing a fibre glass cable was installed for opticaltemperature measurements. In the future these data will
be used for operating the DHE. So far the cable has beenused successfully to survey the setting of the cement slurryin the annulus. During 2005 further temperature measurements are planned and the inner production pipe will be
installed for well completion.

Iceland
ICEIDA and Geothermal Development
Gestur Gíslason, Reykjavik Energy, IcelandInternational development assistance is an important
aspect of Iceland’s foreign policy, and a political decision has recently been made to increase Iceland’s contribution from 0.19% of GDP in 2004 to 0.35% in 2009.
The Icelandic Government thus affirmed its commitment towards efforts made to achieve the Millennium
Development Goals adopted at the United Nations’ 55th
General Assembly in September 2000. Until the late nineties Iceland’s development aid was mainly focused on
the field of fisheries, the best known exception being theUnited Nations Geothermal Training Programme (UNUGTP), but 85% of the programme is funded by Icelandic
development assistance (multi-lateral). This year UNUGTP celebrates a 25 year success story, and recently theGovernment has decided to increase further its financial
support to UNU-GTP, which will enable more students toattend the programme in Iceland and facilitate UNU-GTP
to conduct seminars in developing countries.
The Icelandic International Development Agency
No. 61(ICEIDA) is an autonomous agency of the Ministry ofForeign Affairs and is the main executing agency forbi-lateral development assistance for the Government of
Iceland. ICEIDA works with only a small number of partner countries and has focused on the poorest countries inAfrica. A decision has recently been made to expand theoperations of ICEIDA, both to include more partner countries and to include more fields of co-operation, including the energy sector, with emphasis on environmental
sustainability of resource utility, including geothermalenergy.
Uganda has been a partner country of ICEIDA since2001, and the ongoing geothermal exploration project inWestern Uganda (see IGA News # 59) has been supported
by ICEIDA. This geothermal project was initiated in 1993
by the Ministry of Energy in Uganda, with the Geological
Survey and Mines Department in Entebbe as the executing agency. The first phase was carried out in co-operation
with UNDP, but co-funded by the Icelandic Government
and OPEC. Three geothermal areas within the westernbranch of the East African Rift System in Western Uganda
were selected (Katwe, Buranga and Kibiro), and during
the first phase all geothermal manifestations were mapped
within these three areas and an intensive geochemical
sampling programme carried out. Results were promising,indicating reservoir temperature in the range of 200°C
or higher for two of the areas, but funds to complete thepre-feasibility study were not available. During the late
1990s and early 2000s the International Atomic Energy
Agency supported further chemical and isotopic studies in
Uganda that increased the understanding of groundwaterflow and sub-surface temperatures. In 2003 the geothermal programme got support from an alternative energy
study programme funded by the African Development
Bank. The aim was to carry out geophysical surveys in
two of the study areas (Katwe and Buranga) using geological and geophysical methods (i.e. resistivity (TEM),
gravity and magnetics). At the same time ICEIDA signed
an agreement with the Government of Uganda to carryout a geological and geophysical survey in the third area,
Kibiro. Neither of the two programmes were completed
during the field season of 2004 but the results are promising, showing large low resistivity anomalies in both study
areas. Following these positive results, the governmentof Uganda secured continued support from ICEIDA andthe World Bank to complete the pre-feasibility study in
Katwe and Kibiro. ICEIDA provides geothermal experts
but the World Bank provides funds for locally incurredcosts as well as the drilling contracts for 10 shallow temperature gradient boreholes. The project is currently being
carried out and is scheduled for completion in November
2005, pending the progress of the drilling programme.
Furthermore, the German Geological Agency (BGR) is
currently carrying out geophysical studies in Buranga in
February, involving resistivity and seismic studies.
The vast geothermal resources of eastern Africa arelargely untapped, although proven. In order to overcome

July – September 2005

5
the financial, investment and technical risks and barriers which are delaying the development of geothermal
resources in the region, an African Rift Geothermal
Facility (ARGeo) is being established. ARGeo was initiated by several countries in Eastern Africa, will be funded by
the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and implemented
by the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)
and the German Development Bank (KfW). The projectwill be executed in partnership with UNU-GTP, ICEIDA,
the Italian Ministry of Environment, the USA Government,
the German Geological Agency (BGR) and others. Oneof the objectives of ARGeo is to encourage co-operation
between the participating countries by pooling the existing
resources and regional expertise. ICEIDA has agreed toundertake a regional inventory of the existing equipment
as well as the human resources in the eastern Africa region.
The findings will be presented at a seminar in Nairobi in
November this year.
Nicaragua is a new partner country of ICEIDA, andco-operation programmes are being negotiated. The
Nicaraguan Government has expressed interest in geothermal co-operation, and currently the form and nature of a
possible geothermal project is being discussed.

Italy
EU Training Programme on Geothermal
Adele Manzella, CNR-IGG, Pisa, Italy

Under the auspices of the Leonardo da Vinci Programme,
an Education and Culture Programme of the European
Commission, a training project named “Development ofyoung researchers’ competences to EU standards in thegeothermal field” was carried out from May 13th to July
3rd, 2005. Eight young researchers from University of
Oradea, Romania, participated in the project and were
hosted by the Institute of Geosciences and Earth Resourcesof the Italian National Research Council (CNR-IGG) in
Pisa, Italy.
The training period consisted of lectures, field trips,
language courses, cultural events. Participants had also
been offered the facilities of the library and the Italiangeothermal database.
Lectures were given by E. Barbier (Geothermal energy
and the other renewable energy sources), G. Gianelli (Deepseated geothermal systems), A. Manzella (Geophysicalmethods for geothermal exploration), G. Ruggieri(Application of fluid inclusions to investigate geothermal systems), S. Grassi (Thermal springs of Tuscany),
Iceland
C. Calore (Modelling of geothermal systems), G. Moratti(Geology and geothermics, an overview), A. Minissale
Strong participation of UNU-GTP at WGC (Geochemical methods for geothermal exploration),
2005
M. Frey (Economic aspects of the utilization of geothermal
resources) and A. Franco (Heat pump technology).
Ingvar B. Fridleifsson, UNU-GTP, Iceland
The eight researchers from University of Oradea hadtheopportunity to visit the Larderello geothermal field,
The United Nations University Geothermal Training
Programme (UNU-GTP) in Iceland was very well rep- with its museum and its plants for power generation. They
resented at the WGC 2005 last April. Amongst the 705 also enjoyed a visit to the southern Tuscany hydrothermalrefereed papers accepted by the Technical Committee for areas (Sarturnia, Bagno Vignoni), the geothermal area ofpresentation (oral and poster), 141 papers (20%) were Mt. Amiata and a fish farming facility. Dr Carella and IGG
authored or co-authored by 104 former UNU Fellows from personnel guided them also to Ferrara, where they had the
26 countries (out of 318 graduates of the UNU-GTP). The opportunity to visit the geothermal/combined heating syspapers were divided between 23 of the 24 technical ses- tem, and to Abano Terme, where they could visit other spasand learn about local use of thermal waters.
sions of the conference.
Participants had the opportunity to visit many historical
Seventy seven former UNU Fellows from 25 countries attended the congress. Most of them received travel towns and places, both in Tuscany and other Italian surfellowships funded by the UNU-GTP in Iceland and the rounding regions.
The project was promoted by A. Setel of the University
UNU Centre in Japan. Sixty one attended the WGC 2000
in Japan and 35 the WGC 1995 in Italy. The UNU-GTP of Oradea, Romania. The eight young researchers frompolicy to support the participation of former UNU Fellows University of Oradea were: Indrie Liliana, Timar Adrian,in the WGC every five years has made it possible for a Mihnea Diana, Pantea Stelian, Chirila Florina, Paul Marius,
large number of professionals from all continents to share Clitan Cristian and Puscas Dana.
The Italian organization was coordinated by P. Manetti
their research results and experience with the international
geothermal community. Their enthusiasm and hard work with the support of A. Manzella. Beside the lecturgives them the opportunity to keep up with new technical ers, CNR-IGG personnel involved in the training weredevelopments as well as the pleasure of meeting friends S. Bellani, E. Calvi, A. Caprai, M. Dickson, C. Giussani,and colleagues from various parts of the world, reminisce L. Gori, A. Innocenti, A. Rossi and F. Tateo.
about the past, and plan for the future.

July – September 2005

6
Portugal
PICO VERMELHO GEOTHERMAL PROJECTUri Kaplan – ORMAT Technologies Ltd.
1. INTRODUCTION
The local Electric Company in the Azores Islands has given
the green light for the construction of a new geothermal
power plant at the Pico Vermelho site on the São MiguelIsland. The new power plant is expected to contribute to
the efforts of the local authorities to have the base loadneeds of the Island provided by dependable, indigenous
and clean geothermal power. The new plant will optimize
energy utilization by converting geothermal steam andbrine from geothermal wells into electric power energy.
The new plant will use air-cooled condensers which enable
100% geothermal fluid reinjection. The 100% reinjection
serves both to sustain the reservoir and to produce electrical power with virtually no environmental impact. It will
utilize the high performance, high efficiency organic turbines developed by ORMAT for geothermal and industrial
recovered-energy applications.
2. DEVELOPMENT OF THE GEOTHERMALRESOURCEThe Sociedade Geotermica dos Açores, S.A. (SOGEO)
operates the Ribeira Grande and Pico Vermelho geothermal power plants, both located at the Lagoa do Fogo
(Agua de Pau) volcano in the central part of the island ofSão Miguel, Azores, Portugal. The two plants are suppliedby separate well fields that exploit different areas within asingle extensive geothermal system on the northern slopeof the volcano.
Exploration and development of the lower (northern)part of the field where the Pico Vermelho plant is locatedtook place during the late 1970s and early 1980s. Five
deep wells (RG 1 , RG 22, PV 1 , PV 2 and SB 1 ) were
drilled during 1978-1981, and the 3 MW Pico Vermelho
plant began operation in 1981. Well damage and scaling
problems left PV 1 as the only well available for use by
the plant, and as a result the plant output has typically notexceeded 0.7 MW.
During the late 1980s exploration of the southernpart of the field (higher elevations on the volcano) was
undertaken in an effort to identify a geothermal resourceof higher temperature and lower scaling potential. Well
CL 1 was drilled in 1988-89 and wells CL 2 , CL 3 andCL 4 during 1992-94. The production from these wells
was more than sufficient to supply Phase A of the RibeiraGrande power plant (5.08 MW) located in the upper part of
the field. Constructed in 1993-94, this plant consists of two
binary-cycle ORMAT® Energy Converters (OECs). Wells
CL 1 and CL 2 served as production wells for the plant.
Phase B (9.4 MW) was installed at Ribeira Grande in1997, bringing the total capacity of the plant to 14 MW(approximately 12 MW net to the grid). Well CL 3 andNo. 61the excess capacities of wells CL 1 and CL 2 are used
to supply this facility. CL 4 has also been used intermittently; however, following the assessment described
below, this well has been converted to injection and a new
production well is being drilled to replace it. CL 5, which
was drilled a few years ago, and CL 6, which is currently
being drilled, will contribute to sustain the operation of theRibeira Grande power plant.
3. DESCRIPTION OF THE POWER PLANT
3.1 Two-Phase Flow with High Liquid Fraction
The geothermal resource of the Lagoa do Fogo Volcano ischaracterized by low enthalpy fluid (900 1100 kJ/kg) andas a result the separated fluid consists of a high portion ofwater (brine) and a low portion of steam. Typical figures
are 78% water and 22% steam at a separation pressure of
5 bar a, and fluid enthalpy of 1100 kJ/kg.
ORMAT has developed the bi-phase type ORMAT®
Energy Converter (OEC) to utilize this type of geothermal
resource efficiently. The bi-phase OEC uses the separated steam to vaporize the organic fluid (pentane) in thevaporizer and the mixture of condensed steam and brine
is used as the heating source for the preheater. Figure 1
is a schematic flow diagram of the bi-phase process. The
ratio of heat quantities of steam and condensate/brine mixtures are similar to the heat quantities of the boiling andpreheating of the pentane in the OEC. Figure 2 presents a
TQ (temperature, heat quantity) diagram showing the heat
quantities and temperatures of the heating fluid and working fluid in the OEC cycle. The figure shows the perfectmatch between the shape and quantities of the working
fluid and heating fluid, indicating a very high efficiency
in utilization of the heating source.
The bi-phase OEC concept is used in other low enthalpy geothermal resources in locations such as the Zunil
project in Guatemala (24 MW), Ngawha project in New
Zealand (12 MW), and the Olkaria III early generation
project in Kenya (12 MW).

Figure 1 – Schematic Flow Diagram of the Bi-Phase
Process

7
BI-PHASE OEC

Figure 2 – TQ Diagram
3.2 Stages in the Construction of the São Miguel
Geothermal Project
The construction of the Pico Vermelho project is the fourthstage in the development and construction of the geothermal plant on the São Miguel island.
Pico Vermelho Phase A• The first stage was a 3 MW back pressure steam turbine utilizing the steam of PV 1 but generating only
about 600 kW.
Ribeira Grande Phase A• The first ORMAT project in the Azores was the RibeiraGrande Phase A of 5.08 MW gross, using the steam andbrine of wells CL 1 and CL 2 . The working parameters of the project were as follows (design point):
Steam flow
: 43.7 t/hBrine flow
: 74.6 t/h
Steam pressure at inlet to plant: 5.16 bar a
Brine temperature at inlet to plant: 152°C
NCG in steam: 7.4%
Design ambient temperature: 13°CPower generation (gross at generator terminals) : 5,080 kW
Power generation (net at sub station inlet): 4,400 kW
The generation unit consists of two bi-phase OEC units,each with two turbines connected to a common generator.
Ribeira Grande Phase B• The second phase of the Ribeira Grande project was theconstruction of two additional OEC units on the same site,using the same plant facilities and the geothermal fluid
from wells CL 3 , CL 4 and CL 5. As mentioned above,
well CL 4 was later converted to an injection well.
Phase B parameters are as follows:
Steam flow
Brine flow
Steam pressure
Brine temperature
NCG in steam
Design ambient temperaturePower generation (gross)Power generation (net)

:
:
:
:
:
:
:
:

71.1 t/h
263 t/h5.11 bar a
153°C
7.6%
13°C
9,400 kW8,000 kWThe figures given above are at “design point” as presented
in the project agreement and are based on the best information on the well production at the time of the project conceptual phase. During the acceptance tests of the two phases the well production performance was slightly different
from the design point figures. However, the performanceof the generating equipment – the OEC units - was better
than the expected performance at the new conditions, when
applying the correction curves.
Pico Vermehlo Phase B
In mid 2004 SOGEO issued a bid for the design, manufacture and construction of a 10 MW (net) geothermal projectusing the steam and brine from four production wells PV 1 , PV 2 , PV 3 and PV 4 . The spent fluid would be
injected to two injection wells – PV 5 and PV 6. Wells
PV 4 , PV 5 and PV 6 have not yet been drilled and will be
drilled in parallel to the construction of the power plant.
Based on the experience of the previous phases, aJuly – September 2005

8resource analysis was conducted by GeothermEx to determine the design separation pressure which would take into
consideration future reservoir depletion and would result
in best overall reservoir sustainability and maximum plant
energy production. The result was a relatively low design
working pressure, as shown the following working parameters:
Steam flow
: 76.8 t/hBrine flow
: 346.7 t/h
Steam pressure at inlet to plant: 5 bar a
Brine temperature at inlet to plant: 161.3°C
NCG in steam: 1.8%
Design ambient temperature: 22°C
Gross power at design point: 12,000 kW
Gross power at 13°C ambient temperature : 13,000 kW
Net power at design point: 10,500 kW

CONCLUSIONS
The development of geothermal power generation projects
in the Azores started in the late 70s and today includes
four power plants with an accumulated capacity of closeto 25 MW.
The 10 MW Pico Vermehlo power plant is the third
ORMAT plant in the Azores and represents the successful cooperation between the Azores electric company –SOGEO - and ORMAT to develop high reliability, efficient
power plants utilizing the available geothermal energy.

THE AMERICAS
4. CONTINUOUS IMPROVEMENT
The three phases of ORMAT equipment in the Azores area good example of the continuing improvement of theenergy conversion equipment (OEC unit and the auxiliarycomponent) resulting in higher efficiency and better reliability and lifetime.
The first phase of the Ribeira Grande project included
two dual OEC units, each consisting of two 3,000 rpm turbines and two speed reduction units connected to a 1,500rpm generator.
The second phase included two improved OEC units
with 1,500 rpm turbines direct-coupled to the generator
without the need for reduction gears and with much higher
expansion efficiency.
The third phase – the Pico Vermehlo plant - will haveone of the new generation OECs with a capacity of up to
18 MW.
Table 1 presents the improvement in turbine expansion efficiency since ORMAT’s first geothermal projects
in 1984, resulting from an improvement in the nozzle andblade design, better wheel geometry which came with the
reduction of the turbine speed from 3000/3600 rpm to1500/1800 rpm (for 50 and 60 Hz grids respectively).
The reduction in the turbine speed was also one of themain reasons for the significant improvement in the reliability of the mechanical components such as bearings andseals, and of the extremely high availability and lifetimeof the plants.
Turbine Efficiency
Year of First Use
1984
1985
1989
1993
1996
2000
No. 61

Representative
TurbineProjects
Efficiency %Steamboat
72
Ormesa
75
Puna
78
Heber
83
Upper Mahaio/Rotokawa
84
Olkaria88

Chile
ENEL AND ENAP SIGN AN AGREEMENTFOR THE GEOTHERMAL DEVELOPMENT OF
CHILETranslation from Italian by Iris Perticone, ENEL, Italy
Chilean Empresa Nacional Del Petróleo (ENAP), whichis among the largest energy companies of Latin America
and the first one in its country, and ENEL signed anagreement in Santiago de Chile for the development ofgeothermal exploration projects in central-southern Chileand aiming at electricity generation. With the agreement,
signed in a ceremony presided over by Chile’s Secretaryof the National Energy Commission Luis Sanchez, thetwo companies became shareholders, through an exchangeof bonds (51 % ENEL and 49 % ENAP), of the Empresa
Nacional de Geotermia, the joint venture that will carryon the exploration of the geothermal resources in thepromising areas of Calabozo and Chillán, located at about
1,200 m elevation in the Precordilleran Andes. If the outcomes of the studies are positive, new wells could be drilledin 2006 and production could start within four years.
The aim is to add up to 300 MW of new generation
capacity over the next seven years by exploiting theearth’s natural heat to produce electric energy. The energy
capacity thus generated will come from a renewablesource, will be without emissions, and capable of meetingthe annual needs of some 1,800,000 Chilean families. The
avoided emissions into the atmosphere would be equivalent to 1,500,000 tonnes per year of carbon dioxide. This
represents a significant contribution to the diversificationof energy sources for a country (Chile) that is strongly
dependent on imported fossil fuels, while its outstanding hydroelectric capacity has to reckon with recurrent
droughts.
ENEL Chief Operating Officer Sandro Fontecedro

9stated that the company, which is already a world leader
in renewable energies, is committed to go further in thisdirection. ENEL is investing both in Italy and abroad,focusing mainly in those fields where it has the soundest expertise, geothermal and wind energy. In particular,
ENEL experience in geothermal dates back more than
one century, and the company is willing to make themost out of the remarkable extent of acquired expertise.
ENEL is keen to grab the chance to grow and, at the sametime, to grant a support to the energy development of thecountries that hold this valuable natural resource, as wellas contributing to the reduction of global greenhouse gas
emissions.
The agreement with ENAP is an important step in theimplementation of this strategy that ENEL intends to follow with determination; in fact various development initiatives in Europe and other countries in Central and SouthAmerica such as El Salvador and Guatemala are currently
under consideration.
Chile is part of the so called “Ring of Fire”, characterized by frequent volcanic activity. For this reason it holdsa large potential for electricity generation from geothermal
resource.
A stimulating negotiation is also under way with
Codelco, the Chilean national company that mines copper
and which is interested in the exploitation of geothermalenergy occurring in the El Tatio area, north of Santiago.
Geothermal resources are currently exploited in
23 countries worldwide, with an installed capacity of
8,300 MW.
With the available technology, and developing provenresources, it could be possible to increase this figure up
to some 72,000 MW. Foreseeable technological progress
could lead to an additional doubling of geothermal capacity in a few years.
In Italy, in southern Tuscany, ENEL has realized over
700MW derived from geothermal sources with 5 billion
kilowatt hours of annual production, which met the yearlyneed of almost two million Italian families, equal to
1.6 % of national consumption and avoiding carbon dioxide
emissions of 3 billion tonnes per year. These records give
ENEL an undeniable authority worldwide in this field.

Nicaragua
Bids received for two projects in Nicaragua
John Garnish, IGA News editorial teamThe project advisor to Nicaragua’s energy regulator INE,
Ariel Zúñiga, reported on 7 June that offers have been
received from three bidders interested in developing
two geothermal projects with total installed capacity of
400MW.
The contracts are for the 250MW El Hoyo Monte Galánproject 6km from Momotombo, an active volcano in León
department, and the 150MW Managua-Chiltepe project,which is about 12km from the capital city, Managua.
Bidders could submit bids for either project or for bothprojects. INE sold eight packages of bidding rules andreceived bids on May 31.
US company Ormat submitted one bid for the El Hoyo
Monte Galán project, while GeoNica, a consortium of
Italian company ENEL and El Salvadorian company La
Geo, submitted offers for both projects, as did Canadiancompany Cerro Colorado Power.
Ormat has 3MW of installed geothermal capacity in
Mexico, 24MW in Guatemala, 15.5MW in Costa Rica and
30MW in Nicaragua.
INE has already begun the evaluation process, which isusually for a two-month period but can legally be extended
up to three months.

Nicaragua
Another Geothermal Power Project In
Nicaragua Successful
James Lawless, Sinclair Knight Merz of New Zealand
On 20 July 2005 the San Jacinto geothermal power plant
was officially opened by President Bolaños of Nicaragua
who, as a chemical engineer, has taken a keen interest in
the project since its inception. This is the second geothermal power project in Nicaragua after Momotombo.
The San Jacinto-Tizate resource is located in a volcanicarea near the Nicaraguan colonial city of Leon, 90 kilometres north west of the country’s capital, Managua.
The geothermal field concession is controlled by a
Nicaraguan subsidiary of publicly-listed Polaris Geothermal
Inc., whose major shareholders include companies basedin Nicaragua, Germany, the USA and Canada.
This has been a project with a very strong internationalflavour, quite apart from its diverse ownership. Technicalsupport and design for the project has been provided
by Sinclair Knight Merz of New Zealand. LaGeo of El
Salvador supplied and installed the turbines. TIC of the
USA was the steamfield contractor. Standard Bank of
London was the lead financier and also a shareholder inthe project.
The San Jacinto concession was acquired from a jointcompany owned by Russian geothermal developers and the
Nicaraguan Government. Thus, when Polaris took over the
project there were already successful wells drilled. That
led to a development strategy aimed at making early andbest use of the existing assets, which inevitably involved astaged programme.
The first stage, now installed, consists of a 10 MWe
plant making use of two second-hand back-pressure turbines from El Salvador to generate immediate energy
and revenue returns using the steam available from two
existing wells. Additional generating capacity will thenJuly – September 2005

10
be installed as new wells are brought on line, to enable
the plant to reach the full 66 MW (net) output allowed forunder the existing Power Purchase Agreement. Planningfor the next stage is already under way.
Polaris and its partners also hold a second geothermal
concession area in Nicaragua, nearby at Casita, and haverecently put in a bid for a third. 75 to 80% of Nicaragua’s
power is currently supplied by thermal (oil or gas fired)plants using imported fuels with rapidly rising prices.
The private sector development of renewable hydro andgeothermal resources is not only expected to solve thecountry’s energy crisis, but make it a potential exporter ofenergy to the rest of Central America, so the geothermal
future in Nicaragua looks bright.

USA
US production tax credits extended to covergeothermal energy
John Garnish, IGA News editorial team
In a recent press release, Karl Gawell, Executive Directorof the Geothermal Energy Association, and Alyssa Kageldescribed the implications of the new US Energy Bill.
The Bill was passed by the Senate on 29 July 2005 andis expected to be signed into law by President Bush. For
geothermal energy, the bill includes significant new tax
incentives, improvements in federal leasing laws, and support for continued technology development.
Section 45 of the bill extends and modifies the renewable electricity production credit to allow geothermal thefull 1.9 cents per kilowatt hour federal tax incentive thathas helped spur wind energy projects across the nation.
The production tax credit, or PTC, is awarded for ten
years to new facilities placed in service by December 31,
2007. Last year, Congress expanded the PTC to include
geothermal and other renewables, but they would receive
the credit for only half of the period, or five years. The
decision to give geothermal the full ten year credit period,
placing it on equal terms with wind, is a huge victory forthe geothermal community, and will help spur new development across the West.
The Energy Bill includes provisions directing the
Department of Energy to conduct a near-term assessmentof the resource potential for all renewable technologies,
including geothermal, with the publication of yearlyreports on the results. It also directs DOE’s future geothermal energy research efforts to work towards several
important goals.
In addition, Congress has created a new Clean
Renewable Energy Bond (“CREB”) to provide cooperatives and other not-for-profit electric companies, as well
as Indian Tribal governments, incentives for building new
geothermal and other qualified energy projects. Taken
together, these provisions represent the first major overNo. 61

haul of the Geothermal Steam Act since 1970.
Karl Gawell is quoted as saying "This new energy bill
will revolutionize geothermal energy use in the US. It willencourage new geothermal power plants helping to ease
the West's power crisis, and stimulate new geothermal
direct use projects that will help communities and businessgrow while reducing dependence on imported fossil fuels.
The bill streamlines some of the most bureaucratic aspectsof the law, provides clear direction for the agencies tomake geothermal a priority, gives local governments more
funding to mitigate impacts, and ensures that the federal
agencies will have the resources needed to implement the
new law and quickly work-off a 30 year backlog of unfinished studies and ignored lease applications."
Congress' decision last year to include geothermal
power in the Production Tax Credit has generated significant interest in new production. Between January and
May 2005, there were 483 megawatts of new geothermal
power purchase agreements signed. These new projects
are located throughout California, Nevada, Arizona, andIdaho, and represent the power generation equivalentof the total 2,000 megawatts of wind projects operating
throughout California today. Also, there are other power
projects in Utah, Idaho, and California, and small-scale
projects in New Mexico, Alaska, Nevada and California
hoping to move forward that are not included in thistotal.
Direct uses applications -- where geothermal fluids areused for home heating, spas, greenhouses, or aquaculture-- are found today in 26 states. But federal law has dramatically stifled direct uses on public lands, and the newenergy bill changes that. It simplifies procedures to obtainleases for direct use purposes, replaces complex royalty
payments with a straight-forward fee schedule, and allows
state and local governments to use geothermal resources
for public purposes at only a nominal charge. Hundreds ofcommunities and business in the West will now be able touse geothermal resources to meet their energy needs.
For information on the federal research and technology development programs visit: http://www.eere.energy.
gov/geothermal/.

AFRICA
Kenya
Workshop for Decision Makers on
Geothermal Projects in Africa
Ingvar B. Fridleifsson, Director,
United Nations University
Geothermal Training Programme,
Orkustofnun, Reykjavik, Iceland (ibf@os.is)

11
A Workshop for Decision Makers on Geothermal Projects
and their Management will be held in Kenya 14-18
November 2005. It is organized by the UNU-GTP (United
Nations University Geothermal Training Programme in
Iceland), KenGen (Kenya Electricity Generating Co.),and UNEP (United Nations Environment Programme), in
collaboration with the African Rift Geothermal Facility(ARGeo), which is in the process of being establishedby UNEP, the Global Environment Facility (GEF), thesix ARGeo countries (Djibouti, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Kenya,
Tanzania and Uganda), and bilateral aid agencies fromseveral countries. The UNU-GTP has been asked to play
the leading role in guiding and implementing the capacity
building component of ARGeo.
The workshop is planned as an important first stepin the ARGeo capacity building process. The aim of theworkshop is to make high level decision makers from therespective energy ministries, leading geothermal agencies, and electric utilities in the ARGeo countries better
informed about the main phases of geothermal development and what kind of manpower, equipment, andfinancing is needed for each phase. They will learn of thepresent availability of equipment and experience within
the ARGeo countries and be asked for their advice andopinion on geothermal capacity building activities which
are being prepared and the feasibility of pooling of specialised equipment in the region.
A survey on geothermal training needs in the ARGeo
countries will be conducted in advance of the workshop, as
well as a survey on the availability of equipment for geothermal exploration in the ARGeo countries (conducted by
the Icelandic International Development Agency ICEIDA
as a contribution to ARGeo). The workshop will probably also discuss a preliminary proposal for an ARGeo
Geothermal Training Centre in Kenya, and a preliminary
draft on the establishment of an ARGeo equipment pool.
The Workshop will hopefully give top energy decision
makers in the ARGeo countries an overview of the planning and execution of geothermal projects and the preparations needed for proposals for financing of geothermal
projects at different stages of development. The Workshop
is expected to be an excellent venue to strengthen thecooperation at the level of top decision makers in thesustainable use of geothermal resources in East Africa.
Participation is by invitation only. There are expected
about twenty participants from the ARGeo countries plus
lecturers.
Later courses/workshops planned in Africa by the sameagencies (2006 and onwards) will be more specific onsubjects such as a) geothermal exploration, b) geothermal
field development, and c) operations and maintenance ofgeothermal plants and production fields. The teaching will
mainly be in the hands of former UNU Fellows in Kenya
and the regular lecturers of the UNU-GTP. A part of theobjective of the short courses/workshops is to increase thecooperation between specialists in the respective Africancountries in the field of sustainable use of geothermal

resources. The UNU-GTP has over 80 graduates in 10
African countries (whereof 57 are still working in geothermal). Most of them have come from Kenya (35) andEthiopia (22).
The Government of Iceland has secured core funding for the UNU-GTP to expand its capacity building
activities by short courses in geothermal development inselected countries in Africa, and later in Central Americaand Asia. The announcement on this was made at theInternational Conference for Renewable Energies held inBonn (Germany) 1-4th June 2004.
The courses/workshops will be set up in cooperation with the energy agencies/utilities and earth science
institutions responsible for the exploration, development
and operation of geothermal energy power stations andutilities in the respective countries. The courses may inthe future develop into sustainable regional geothermal
training centres. The first workshop in Africa will, as
mentioned above, be held in Kenya in November 2005.
The time plans for the first courses or workshops inCentral America and Asia have tentatively been set for
2006-2008.

ASIA/PACIFIC RIM
China
The First Geothermal Village in China
Keyan Zheng, Geothermal Council of China Energy
Society (GCES)
In this village peasants no longer cultivate the fields. They
all live in two storey villas. There are geothermal baths
and geothermal space heating in their houses. It is not the“Arabian Nights”. This is the Village of Nangong, locatedin a suburb of Beijing. There are 2,700 people in the village. Their output value per capita has exceeded $10,000
annually, while their per-capita income has exceeded$1,000 annually. The economic support of the village is
geothermal development and related service trades.
Nangong village is an advanced community of spiritual civilization national-wide. Under the leadership of
National Model Worker Mr. Wu, the village council drewup their policy of ‘Changing traditional agriculture, goingon towards urbanization’. Based on local rural conditions,they decided to use the local superiority of geothermal
and land resources, to do well in geothermal enterpriselike operation, and to develop a geothermal economy.
July – September 2005

12
In 2000 a geothermal well was completed in the village
with 2,380 m3/d of water at 72°C. Under the advice of the
Beijing Geothermal Engineering Institute, these geothermal resources have been used in cascade to support a comprehensive development. The geothermal water is used
first for space heating, supplying heating and hot water toan area of 30,000 m2, including residential houses, guesthouse, hotel, offices and a geothermal exhibition center.
The return water, with a decreased temperature of 48°C,
then enters the second stage where it is used for floor
heating and hot spring recreation in the Hot Spring Water
World and Hot Spring Fishing Center. After that, the thermal water, cooler still, enters the third stage of use in the
Hot Spring Special Aquafarm. Various famous, excellent,
special and new species of edible and fancy fishes are
fed there. Finally, the temperature having dropped below
30°C, the water is reheated by passage through a heatpump or adding a proportion of original geothermal waterand then enters the fourth stage of use. It is used in greenhouses for soil heating and irrigation. In their “Greenhouse
Park”, there is a large-scale (20,000 m2) geothermal greenhouse with glass roof and wall. There are tropical banana
trees and a wonderful “Hundred Melon Garden” in the

Peasants of Nangong Village live in these villas now
glass-greenhouse. In addition as an overall geothermal utilization in the ‘World Geothermal Natural Science Park’,
there is another Geothermal Popular Science Exhibition
Center. The center has a multi-function show hall showing a geothermal film and an exhibition hall exhibiting
geothermal popular science. Basically, this project hasembraced every direct use of low temperature geothermal. This achievement has been showed on Beijing TV.
At present, a second geothermal well has been completed in the village. A Geothermal Physiotherapy Centerand a five star hotel are being constructed, and a third geothermal well is being drilled. This is a planned reinjection
well, in order to ensure the sustainable development anduse of the geothermal resources.
No. 61Japan
A New Ground-coupled Heat Pump survived
the Magnitude 7.0 Earthquake in Fukuoka,
Kyushu, Japan
Sachio Ehara and Koichiro Fukuoka, Kyushu
University
Koji Morita, National Institute of Advanced Industrial
Science and Technology (AIST)
Public energy consumption has reached about 30 % of
total energy consumption in Japan. Moreover, the heatisland phenomenon in the urban areas is progressing rapidly in big cities in Japan, including Fukuoka city which
has a population of over 1.4 million. Therefore it is very
important to convert the energy source for housing fromconventional to renewable natural energy. The number ofground-source heat pumps is increasing rapidly in some
European countries and in the U.S.A., but we have onlya small number of installed units in Japan. One major
reason is the high cost of drilling because of difficult geologic conditions. Another reason is the high cost of electric
power. In Japan, the price of electric power per unit heatamount is about 4 times higher than that of heating oil.
Therefore we are trying to develop new high efficiency
and cost effective space heating and cooling systems withground- coupled heat pumps.
The Downhole Coaxial Heat Exchanger (DCHE) system was selected to extract heat from the underground forthe experimental house in Fukuoka city. Our space heating
and cooling system is quite simple and composed of the
DCHE, which is 60 m long, two heat pumps, a circulation
pump and five direct expansion/condensing fan-coil units
as shown in Fig.1. The refrigerant is carried directly fromthe heat pumps to the fan-coil units as shown in Fig.2. The
experimental house was constructed on newly reclaimed
land. It is made of brick and is a standard 2-storey housefor a family of 4 with an area of about 150 m2 (Fig.3). The
numerical simulation indicated that a high COP of 4.0 to 4.5
could be expected for the system. Experimental operationof the system started in the middle of February 2005.
A big earthquake of magnitude 7.0 (main shock) hit
the western offshore of Fukuoka Prefecture on March 20,
2005. The epicentral distance to the experimental house
is about 20 km. The seismic intensity was 6L JMA (Japan
Meteorological Agency). The maximum ground acceleration was over 350 gal, and a woman was killed and morethan 1000 people injured. More than 4000 houses and buildings were damaged. However, both our experimental houseand ground-coupled heat pump system survived the strong
earthquake even though they were constructed on reclaimed
land. The strong earthquake unexpectedly verified that ourground-coupled heat pump system is earthquake-proof. The
system may be the first ground-coupled heat pump systemin the world to have survived such a big earthquake.
An observation well was also drilled to monitor the13changes in physical properties due to the heat extraction
and disposal. The distance between the observation andheat extraction wells is seven metres. We also set up apressure sensor to monitor the groundwater level. We had
been monitoring the groundwater level since the end ofJanuary, 2005, about 50 days before the occurrence of themain shock. Just after the main shock, we retrieved thewater level data and found a peculiar change in groundwater level before the main shock, as shown in Fig.4. Until
2 March the groundwater level showed a simple sinusoidal curve with dominant period of about one month whichis controlled by ocean tides. From 2 March, the groundwater level began to deviate from the sinusoidal curve andmaintained a constant level. After that, from 12 March, thewater level began to decrease and then to increase again
from 16 or 17 March. The rapid increase on 16 March
was probably affected by rainfall. We had a rainfall of
22.5 mm on 16 March. The main shock occurred on
20 March while the water level was rising.
In summary, we observed the following three stages
in groundwater level change before the main shock: thefirst step is “the water level plateau”, the second stage
is “gradual decrease in water level” and the third stage
is “quick rise of water level”. The main shock occurred
while water level was rising, that is, the third stage. Afterthe main shock the water level dropped quickly by about
60 cm and began to increase again two days after the main
shock. Subsequently several large aftershocks also showeda similar pattern of water level change. The mechanism of
the aforementioned water level change is interpreted interms of the dilatancy-diffusion model (Scholtz,1977).
The peculiar precursory water level change observed in
Fukuoka area implies the possibility of the prediction oftiming and magnitude of earthquakes. Geothermal study
may contribute to the study of earthquake prediction.
Reference
Scholtz, C. H., A physical interpretation of the earthquake
prediction, Nature, Vol.267, 121-124, (1977).

Fig.2 The newly developed ground-coupled heat pumpsystem.

Fig.3 An experimental house constructed on reclaimed
land in Fukuoka city, Kyushu, Japan. It is made of brickand is a standard 2-storey house for a family of four.

Figure captions

Fig.1 Schematic diagram of the DCHE and the spaceheating and cooling system in the experimental house.

Fig.4 Changes in the groundwater level before and after
the main shock at the observation well in Fukuoka city,
Kyushu, Japan. For reference, the smooth solid line shows
the sinusoidal curve with a double amplitude of 15 cm anda period of one month.
July – September 2005

14
Philippines
Update on the Philippine Renewable Energy(RE) Bill (as of 2 August 2005)
by Quintin Pastrana and Ed Sevilla
The National Geothermal Association of the Philippines(NGAP), through its Public Affairs Committee, has been aprincipal member of the multi-sectoral coalition composedof the Philippine Department of Energy (DOE), World
Wildlife Fund (WWF), United Nations Development
Programme (UNDP), Klima and the Confederation of
Renewable Energy Sources (CORE). These groups represent the hydropower, biomass, solar, wind, and geothermal
sectors.
The Coalition advocates the proper formulation and
immediate passage of the Renewable Energy (RE) Billin the Philippine Congress. To this end, the Coalition
has been engaged by the House Committee on Energy toserve as the primary resource for crafting this legislative
measure. After a series of organizational meetings, workshops and presentations, House Bill 1068 was formulated
in a form and content aligned with the interests of theRenewable Energy Sector. The Coalition is now in theprocess of arranging briefings with various sponsors at
the Senate, where a similar bill has been filed by Senators
Juan Flavier and Edgardo Angara.
In summary, the RE Bill endeavors to create a level playing field for RE sources by:
1.
2.
3.

rationalizing incentives,
lowering royalties on energy sources like geothermal(which is currently levied 60% of net revenues, whileother sources like coal are imported tax free), andproviding for increased applications for RE to ensure
the country's energy self sufficiency and sustainable
development.

As a result of the meetings conducted by the technicalworking group (TWG), it was agreed that the proposed
fiscal incentives under the RE bill would be alignedwith pertinent provisions of House Bill No. 3295, "TheConsolidated Incentives and Investment Code of thePhilippines."Moreover, the Coalition is advocating the preferential
treatment (i.e., zero-rating) of RE sources under the new
Expanded Value-Added Tax Law (E-VAT), which serves
to enhance the competitiveness of RE sources. Equallyimportant is the focus of the Coalition on generatingawareness for the increased use of Renewable Energy.
To support its advocacy initiatives, an information campaign has been launched by the Coalition with the WWF
as lead implementor. This has resulted in high impact
projects, including:• Monthly Ad Campaign in the Philippine Daily Inquirer
No. 61(a top Philippine broadsheet) that started in January
and continues to present;• Erection of high profile billboards starting in March at
North Avenue, North Expressway and EDSA;• Familiarization Tour last April for the chairman andkey members of the House Committee on Energy thatfeatured briefings and site visits to existing RE plants
in Southern Luzon, namely: the SunPower Solar Plant
in Sta. Rosa, Laguna, Mak-Ban Geothermal Plant in
Laguna and Batangas, and Villa Escudero Mini-hydroplant in Quezon. This familiarization trip resulted
in the adoption of the RE cause by more legislators,
including Rep. Etta Rosales (Akbayan);• Eco-Adventure Race to launch Southeast Asia's firstever wind farm (25 MW) in Ilocos Norte, Northern
Philippines, last June was covered by MTV, GMA 7,
Inq7.net and other media outlets; and• Round table and in-depth feature about the RE Bill in
the July issue of local magazines.
The combination of policy advocacy efforts and awareness campaigns have proved to be an effective strategy
in ensuring the prospects of the RE Bill's passage. The
Coalition hopes that with the Senate's support the bill will
have a good chance of passage and eventual enactment by
2006.
At the time of writing, the House Energy Committee
is slated to conduct a committee meeting on the draft
substitute renewable energy bill, tentatively on 9 August
2005, with the Philippine Department of Energy and
CORE members as resource persons. Another meeting isscheduled later this August to hear the inputs of Philippine
energy and finance officials. The House Committee on
Energy expects to come up with its committee report after
these meetings.

UPCOMING EVENTSInternational Conference “Mineral Extraction from
Geothermal Brines”, Petropavlosk-Kamchatsky, Russia,
September 12-16, 2005. Websites: English version http://
geoheat.oit.edu/minerals/minerals.htm, Russian version
http://www.gesa.ru. Contacts: R. Gordon Bloomquist(bloomquistr@energy.wsu.edu), John Lund (lundj@oit.
edu), Oleg Povarov (povarov@geotherm.ru), or Yuri
Trukhin (nigtc@kcs.iks.ru).
Symposium of the Geothermal Council of China Energy
Society. Beijing, China, 14-18 September 2005. Contact:
Keyan Zheng, e-mail kzheng@public3.bta.net.cn
World Energy Engineering Congress (WEEC), 14-16
September 2005, Austin TX, USA. Contact: www.energycongress.com/
International Geothermal Conference “Renewable
Energy: Problems and Prospects”. Makhachkala,Republic of Daghestan, 19 – 22 September 2005.

15
Contact: Alibek Alkhasov (danterm@xtreem.ru),
website: http://www.geoterm.iwt.ru/info-e.htm
3rd International Exhibition for all Renewable Energy
Technologies, 21-24 September 2005, Jakarta, Indonesia.
Contact: www.pamerindo.com/2005/ele05exh.htm
GRC Annual Meeting. Reno, NV, USA, 25 – 28
September 2005. website: www.geothermal.org.
3rd Exhibition Conference on Energy Resources andTechnologies, 4-7 October 2005, Milan, Italy. Contact:
www.milanoenergia.it
27th New Zealand Geothermal Workshop, 26-28 October
2005, Rotorua, New Zealand. Contact: Stuart Simmonssf.simmons@auckland.ac.nz, www.auckland.ac.nz/gei
Creating the Climate for Change- The 2nd Annual
Sustainable Energy Finance Round-table on Clean
Energy Investment, 27 October 2005, New York, USA.
Contact: www.greenpowerconferences.com/events/Susta
inableEnergyFinanceRoundtable.htm
Green Power – Mediterranean, 15-16 November 2005,
Rome, Italy. Contact: www.greenpowerconferences.
com/GreenPowerMed.htm
Mexican Geothermal Association Annual Meeting. Los
Azufres, Mich., México, November 27-28, 2005. Contact:
José Luis Quijano-León (luis.quijano@cfe.gob.mx) orLuis C.A. Gutiérrez-Negrín (luis.gutierrez03@cfe.gob.
mx).
Clean Energy Power 2006, 18-19 January 2006, Berlin,
Germany. Contact: alberti@energie-server.de, www.
energiemessen.de/engl/index.htm
31st Stanford Geothermal Workshop. Stanford, California,
USA, 30 January – 1 February 2006. Contact: Laura
Garner (lgarner@pangea.stanford.edu), http://ekofisk.
stanford.edu/geoth/workshop2006.htm
27th Annual PNOC-EDC Geothermal Conference.
Manila, Philippines, 8-9 March 2005. Contact: Arnel
Mejorada, email: geothermalcon@energy.com.ph, www.
energy.com.ph/geoscientific/geocon2006.htm
International Heat Transfer Conference, 13-18 August
2006, Sidney, Australia. Contact: ihtc-13@unsw.edu.au,
http://ihtc-13.mech.unsw.edu.au/
World Renewable Energy Congress IX & Exhibition,
19-25 August 2006, Florence, Italy. Contact:
asayigh@netcomuk.co.uk, www.wrenuk.co.uk/menu/
htm
International Conference and Exhibition “Renewable
Energy 2006”. Makuhari Mese, Chiba, Japan, 9-13
October 2006. Website: www.re2006.org.

IGA News
IGA News is published quarterly by the International
Geothermal Association. The function of IGA Newsis to disseminate timely information about geothermal activities throughout the world. To this end, agroup of correspondents has agreed to supply news foreach issue. The core of this group consist of the IGA
Information Committee:
Eduardo Iglesias, Mexico (Chairman)
Nilgun Bakir, Turkey
Werner Bussmann, Germany
John Garnish, United Kingdom
Alimin Ginting, Indonesia
Gestur Gíslason, Iceland
Luis Gutiérrez-Negrín, Mexico
Roland Horne, USA
Beata Kepinska, Poland
Jim Lawless, New ZealandMarcelo Lippmann, USA
Zbigniew Malolepszy, Poland
Adele Manzella, Italy
Rosa María Prol-Ledesma, Mexico
Sylvia Ramos, Philippines
Tingshan Tian, China
Joaquin Torres-Rodriguez, Mexico
Francois-David Vuataz, Switzerland
Kasumi Yasukawa, JapanThe members of this group submit geothermal news
from their parts of the world, or relevant to their areasof specialization. If you have some news, a report, or
an article for IGA News, you can send it to any of theabove individuals, or directly to the IGA Secretariat,
whatever is most convenient. Please help us to become
essential reading for anyone seeking the latest information on geothermal worldwide.
While the editorial team make every effort to ensure
accuracy, the opinions expressed in contributed articles
remain those of the authors and are not necessarily
those of the IGA.
Send IGA News contributions to:
IGA Secretariat, c/o Samorka
Sudurlandsbraut 48, 108 Reykjavík, Iceland
fax: +354-588-4431
e-mail: iga@samorka.is
Contributions to the next issue of IGA News must be
received by 10 November 2005.
This issue of IGA News was edited by Eduardo
Iglesias. John Garnish proofread the articles. Valgardur
Stefansson at the IGA Secretariat produced it. Layout
and printing by Gutenberg, www.gutenberg.is
July – September 2005

A P P L IC ATION FOR M EM BERSHIP
Please complete the following form and return it with payment to:International Geothermal Association Secretariat
c/o Samorka
Sudurlandsbraut 48, 108 Reykjavik, Icelandtel: +354-588-4437; fax: +354-588-4431; e-mail: iga@samorka.is
IGA Home Page: www.geothermal-energy.org

Membership

Payment
There are three ways to make payment to IGA:U Enrol me as a new member of IGA
U Renew my membership to IGA

Dr Mr Mrs Ms (circle)
Family name ______________________________________First name ________________________________________
Profession _________________________________________
Organization _______________________________________
Address
U WorkU Home____________________________________________________________________________________________________
Phone (area code) __________________________________Fax (area code) ____________________________________
e-mail ___________________________________________
Note: The information you provide will be held on the IGA database. It will
be used to update you on the activities of the Association, and may be changed
or cancelled at any time upon your request. It will be included in the IGA
Directory , which may be circulated in printed or electronic form to IGA members only. If you do not wish your details to be used for this purpose, please tickthe box (in which case your name will not be printed in the IGA Directory) U

Membership category
U
U
U
U
U
U

Individual – USD 30
Student – USD 5
Corporate – USD 300
Institutional – USD 750
Sustaining: individual – USD 100
Sustaining: corporate – USD 1000

Representatives of Corporate and Institutional members:
Contact person _____________________________________
Second person _____________________________________
Third person _______________________________________
REDUCED SUBSCRIPTION RATES FOR
Geothermics
Elsvier Science-Pergamon is pleased to offer members of the
IGA a preferential subscription rate to the journal Geothermics.
Geothermics is published six times a year, with a normal 2004
subscription rate of USD 1124. IGA members, however, areeligible for one of the following yearly rates:
Individual / Student member
USD 76(saving USD 1048)
Corporate / Institutional member
USD 175(saving USD 949)
For more information on Geothermics and other publications
by Elsevier, please check our Internet page “Elsevier Science
Complete Catalogue of Journals and Books“ (more than 12,000
at: http://www.elsevier.nl)
Please make your check payable to “Elsevier Science“ and send
it with your name and address to:
Elsevier Ltd., The Boulevard, Langford Lane,
Kidlington, Oxford OX5 1GB, UK

1. International Wire Transfer in USD
Please notify the Secretariat by fax or e-mail when you wire funds.
Bank:
ICEBANK LTD
Branch 1154
Address:
Skeifan 11
108 Reykjavik
Iceland
Account #SWIFT:
IBAN:

1154-38-100550
LSIC IS RE
IS94 1154 38 100550 460395 2679

2. Bank draft, company or personal check in USD.
3. Credit card
U
U
U

Master Card
American Express
Visa

Card # ____________________________________________
Expiration date ____________________________________
Signature _________________________________________
Date of signature ___________________________________
2005 dues USD ____________________________________
2006 dues USD _____________________________________
2007 dues USD ____________________________________
2008 dues USD ____________________________________
Contribution USD __________________________________TOTAL USD _____________________________________
These financial data will not be stored on a database, and will not be recorded
in any electronic form.

Rates for advertising in IGA NewsSpace/Format

Size mm

Number of Issues
1

4 (per issue)

Full Page

185 x 245

USD 450

USD 350

Half Page(horizontal)

185 x 120

USD 310

USD 215

Half Page(vertical)

90 x 245

USD 310

USD 215

Quarter Page
(horizontal)

120 x 90

USD 195

USD 155

Quarter Page
(vertical)

90 x 120

USD 195

USD 155