Short Course VII on Geothermal Drilling Operations is underway in Azores Islands

7 March 2017
Above: Supervisors and participants in front of the drill Azi.  Below: Reaming operations
Above: Supervisors and participants in front of the drill Azi. Below: Reaming operations

This Short Course is a three-week event, specially intended for a drilling crew. It started on February 20th and is scheduled to end on March 10.  In all, 15 drillers and experts participate in the short course, including 2 women.  The teachers in the short course are Mr. Sverrir Thórhallsson and Mr. Kristján Skarphédinsson.  Sverrir needs no introduction with a wide knowledge on everything related to drilling in geothermal fields, while this is the first time Kristján, who is a seasoned drilling expert, is teaching for UNU-GTP.

The basic intention with the Short Course is to make the drilling crew of EDA Renováeis S.A. familiar with a drill rig it has recently purchased from Iceland. The event is divided into two parts, the first week intended for drilling operations consisting of reaming a well under supervision of the Icelandic experts, while the second part has been a two-week short course on geothermal drilling operations, given in the Pico Vermelho power plant, in the Ribeira Grande geothermal field.  Despite some delays in the reaming operations due to wrongly delivered spare parts, the work was finished on March 4, and the the short course will conclude on March 10.