New students attending geothermal training course
Twenty-five Latin American students participate in this year’s Geothermal Diploma Course in El Salvador. The training course is financed by NDF and the Inter-American Development Bank.
This year’s Geothermal Diploma Course, already the fifth in a row, has been launched in El Salvador. The course is organised by the National Energy Council, the University of El Salvador and the geothermal company LAGEO, and financed by NDF and the Inter-American Development Bank. This course will train 10 professionals from El Salvador and 15 professionals from other countries thanks to a scholarship scheme provided by the donors to cover costs for participation in the five-month training course. The trainees come from Argentina, Colombia, Ecuador, El Salvador, Mexico, Nicaragua and Peru and they represent government institutions, power utilities, power companies, universities and research institutions. This regional training program for geothermal energy covering the whole Latin America and the Caribbean has become part of the technical assistance component of the new Geothermal Development Facility for Latin America. To date, 110 professionals have been trained under the geothermal training programme.
During the five months of training, the students will be trained in topics such as: exploration geology, geochemistry and geophysics, drilling techniques for geothermal wells, geothermal plant planning, environmental and social management of geothermal projects. The training is provided by high quality national and international experts and organised as a joint effort by national authorities, university and public/private utility, which makes it unique in combining theoretical and practical training whereby students will have field experience through visits and internships at different geothermal plants and exploration sites in El Salvador.
There is great interest in geothermal energy in many countries in Latin America and the Caribbean. It is estimated that Latin American has a 6,000 MW geothermal potential of which 43% is in Central America. El Salvador alone is currently exploring two new sites with a capacity of more than 200 MW. Training of professionals in various aspects of geothermal technology is key in meeting the ambitious goals of the countries to diversify their energy mix.
