GEOTHERMAL FAVORABILITY MAPS FOR THE MEMBER COUNTRIES OF THE SICA REGION: A MAP OF OPPORTUNITIES

The Geothermal Heat Utilization in Industrial Processes in SICA Member Countries (GEO II) project, implemented by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH on behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) for SICA, proposes a methodology for the elaboration of geothermal favorability maps for the member countries of the Central American Integration System (SICA). The methodology is a spatial analysis tool, based on a simple weighted overlay model that assigns a favorability index in the range of 0 to 10, with the objective of locating suitable sites to initiate the geothermal exploration stage. It considers geoscientific evidence defined as input criteria of the model, assuming that they indicate the probable presence of volcanic geothermal systems typical of the region. It is performed in Geographic Information Systems (GIS): QGIS and ArcGIS, through the stages: definition, derivation, transformation, and superposition. The model combines the transformed data, applying a weighted overlay to the geological, geochemical, and geophysical criteria, resulting in a raster surface that represents the suitability index, indicating the geothermal favorability for each country, allowing a comparison between them according to their variation in the input criteria.

Finally, an analysis stage, based on the comparison of the favorability map with the location of geothermal projects in the region to ensure that the result is a starting point for the identification of favorable areas in the exploration stage for the development of geothermal projects through a platform and database accessible at the regional scale of SICA.