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ANDEAN VOLCANIC BELT - The Andes run the length of the west coast of South America from western Venezuela through Columbia, Ecuador, Peru, Bolivia, Chile and Argentina. Subduction of the Nazca plate under the South American plate has produced many active and recently-active volcanoes. Several high-temperature geothermal systems occur in these sparsely populated areas, but since electrical demand is low, they are not developed. The first major United Nations geothermal project (1965) was El Tatio, Chile, which could provide all of the energy needed (about 30 MWe) to run the great copper mine at Chuquicamata, 100 km to the west. There is a 670 kWe electric power plant at Copahue, Argentina, and some geothermal waters are used for bathing and district heating. |
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