by: Federico Fernández, Real Estate Consultant
Among other blessings, Costa Rica’s geography, climate and natural resources provide various options for the generation of renewable energy. A project considering nuclear energy in this country would be far out of scope, not only due to its cost, and the fact that the population would reject anything that might threaten nature, but also due to its lack of need when hydroelectric power plants, windmill camps, geothermic plants and, now, the first solar power plant in Central America are alternatives.
Grupo ICE, a public institution, has led the development of the energy producing infrastructure in the country for over 60 years. The first projects done were hydroelectric plants. Since then, volcanic activity, wind activity and sun have been exploited. All of these sources are found in our province of Guanacaste. Thanks to a donation from the government of Japan, a power plant located in Bagaces, Guanacaste, opened last November. It will provide the yearly power for around 600 homes and it is the first of its kind in Central America.
Power supply has always proven to be fairly stable in all of our territory. That I remember, we experienced just once one month with important blackouts due to a temporary energy crisis, and that was several years ago. Also, our power supply expansion is always being planned with clean energy sources. Every new project is always designed to have the least environmental impact and, when a project is executed, actions such as reforestation are taken to mitigate its impact.
If you want to learn more about power generation in Costa Rica, you can visit www.grupoice.com.