25 Apr The soil of Ourense triples the national average in the generation of geothermal energy.

At a depth of 120 metres, the earth’s heat reaches sufficient levels to air-condition a 1,200 m2 building. The geothermal map highlights the potential of its three rivers, the casco vello, A Ponte or As Eiroás, among others.

According to Galician and Spanish studies, while at 100 metres of drilling the average temperature that can be achieved, and then transformed into renewable energy, is between 15 and 16 degrees, while in Ourense, at the same depth, are already obtained between 25 and 40 degrees.

It is “a potential for clean, renewable and still little exploited energy, which can reduce the average energy consumption of a home by up to 70% and with no impact on the environment”, says José Ángel Cid, manager of Xeoaquis, one of the pioneering companies in natural and indirect geothermal energy, hydrogeology, thermalism and geotechnics, that is to say everything related to studies, installation and use of the natural energy that in a thermal city like Ourense is quietly in the subsoil waiting to be used.

The great geothermal rift

The great geothermal breccia also extends throughout the city more easily than any other area of the peninsula to get this resource at lower cost, but there are areas where these “hot spots” are concentrated as “the main axes of the three rivers Miño, Barbaña and Loña and the historic center, with very high temperatures and the whole area of the neighborhood of A Ponte, north bank of the river Porto, in Outariz, As Eiroás valley and many others”, says the technician.

José Ángel Cid was also in charge of giving yesterday the first talk of a cycle of four in La Molinera, organized from the Department of Thermalism of Ourense, which will be offered within the Geoatlantic project, the first program of the Atlantic Area that bets on geothermal energy as final energy for public and private use and its approach to society and to which belongs the city of Ourense along with other five European countries.

In the presentation of yesterday’s informative day, the mayor of Thermalism and Economic Promotion, Jorge Pumar, highlighted the importance of this energy at a strategic level for the commitment to the renewable future of the city and the potential that this energy can have for employment and economic development of the same.

The first talk was aimed at the general public, in order to inform them of the advantages of this type of clean and cheap energy that can be captured at any point, also helped by the type of granitic soil abundant in the city. The second informative talk included in this Geoaglantic macro-project will be aimed at companies so that they can learn about the advantages of geothermal energy and how the savings in energy costs they will bring may mean that what they produce has more competitive prices in the market. The third talk will be aimed at technical prescribers, that is to say architects and all kinds of professionals involved in building, to learn about the possibilities of geothermal energy. The fourth charsera will encourage administrations to use geothermal energy.

The company Xeoaquis is the developer of one of the first two buildings (the one they are already under construction in Santa Eufemia, old town), which are the first with flats for sale that are powered by geothermal energy, the others are located in Parada Justel.

Source: Faro de Vigo