SDG Short Course V on Geothermal Exploration, Drilling and Management held in El Salvador held in El Salvador January 28 to February 11 2024
The SDG Short Course series in El Salvador continued this year and this time it was a 2-week Short Course V on Geothermal Exploration, Drilling and Management. As before it was organised by GRÓ GTP and LaGeo S.A. de C.V. A in San Salvador and held during January 28 to February 11, 2024.
A total of 32 participants partook in the short course of which 26 came from 14 countries of Central- and South America as well as from the Caribbean islands. The rest were local Salvadorians. A number of lecturers shared their knowledge at the course among whom five experts from ÍSOR on-site but a few lecturers from ÍSOR, Carbfix, and Verkís presented online including the director of GTP, Gudni Axelsson. Many of the lecturers who contributed to the program were former GTP fellows but the participants also contributed with presentations on the geothermal development status and prospects in their own country as well as some presented the latest research in their own field.
The Short Course covered a range of topics including:
1) An overview of the status of geothermal development in the LAC region;
2) Geothermal exploration and research;
3) Geothermal direct use possibilities;
4) Resource management during utilization;
5) Sustainability and social and environmental impacts; and
6) Drilling and Management.
Two days were devoted to field trips to the Ahuachapán, Berlín, and San Vicente geothermal power plants where the participants were able to see the main power plants in El Salvador and the geothermal utilisation in the region. The afternoons of the second week were devoted to project work on geothermal exploration and well siting as well as geothermal reservoir engineering and management. There the participants had the opportunity to work hands on with the experts from LaGeo and ÍSOR on some case examples to give them a deeper insight into the topics.
The Short Course was very well received, and all the participants all reported that they gained both new knowledge of the geothermal field, and that the topic of the course and the experienced gained will be of good use to them in their work back home.
This Short Course series are a special contribution of the Icelandic Government to the UN Sustainable Development Goals. This support directly falls under Goal 7: Clean Energy for All but also Goal 13 and 5 and many more benefit from this support. This Short Course was the fifth in the series but the 13th event to be held jointly by GTP and LaGeo since 2006 as before the series was in support of the Millennium Development Goals.
It was encouraging to see the increased enthusiasm in the Latin America region for geothermal exploration and development. Hopefully many more countries will follow the geothermal journey in the coming years.
