Chile's Enel To Operate Geothermal Power Plant In 2014 - Exec - WSJ.com

SANTIAGO (Dow Jones)--Chilean power utility Enel Chile is taking steps to open a 40-megawatt geothermal electricity plant in 2014, the company's president, Oscar Valenzuela, said Thursday. Chile, along with Indonesia, New Zealand and the Philippines, is on the so-called Pacific Ring of Fire, where volcanic activity has produced rich geothermal resources. Enel Chile, a unit of Italian power utility Enel SpA (ENEL.MI), is developing the so-called Apacheta geothermal project in northern Chile, which still requires environmental approval. The Apacheta project's progress will likely lead to the opening of a 40-megawatt geothermal electricity plant in four years, Valenzuela said at an energy conference. The plant would generate 300,000 megawatt hours of electric energy each year, he added."