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First Big Wind Power Plant in Costa Rica |
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In May 1996, the construction was completed, and the first big wind-power plant is in its testing phase in Costa Rica, where, depending on the location, the annual average wind speed is 10-11m/s. The 20-MW plant with 55 KVS-33 wind turbine generators, supplied by Kenetech of the USA, will help to meet the country's growing electricity needs in an environmentally friendly way. In addition, it will save the country an estimated $3.8 million a year in imported fuel oil that it would have needed had it relied on fossil-fuel for additional power. The current price of electricity is 5-6 cents/kWh. In Costa Rica, the total installed capacity is about 1,000 MW, most of which is hydroelectric. The plant will be owned and operated by Plantas Eo'licas S.A., sponsored by Grupo Zeta, a Costa Rican industry group, and Charter Oak Energy, a subsidiary of Northeast Utilities of the United States. The project is probably "the first commercial-scale, privately owned and operated wind power park project in the world to be built without economic incentives of any kind". The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) approved the $18.7 million loan in December, 1995. The facility will be located at Tejona, canton of Tilara'n, Guanacaste province. Adjacent to it, a similar wind-power plant is being considered by the Costa Rican Government and would be built by the Instituto Costarricencse de Electricidad, the national power company. That sister plant is also being financed in part by an IDB loan and a $3.3 million grant from the Global Environmental Facility, whose trustee is the World Bank. Source and more Info: Christopher Hunt, president of PESA, Plantas Eolicas S.A, c/o Merrill International, 20 University Road, Suite 510, Cambridge, MA02138, USA Ph/fax: +1-617-661-9540/- 661-9244. Samuel Silva, IDB Press Officer, 1300 New York Ave, NW Washington. D.C. 20577, USA.Ph/fax: +1-202-623-3731/623-1419, email: samuels@iadb.org. |
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| Published in Sustainable Energy News |
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Go back to main page of ISSUE #13 Sustainable Energy News (16 pages) (1996-06-30) 
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