Costa Rica sees 55 MW geothermal option at Pailas
Miravalles V geothermal power plant, Costa Rica (source: Ormat)
Alexander Richter
10 Eki 2012
The Costa Rica Geothermal Resources Service sees a 55 MW potential for a geothermal power project at Pailas and highlights the advantages of geothermal for the country.
In a draft document, the Geothermal Resources Service of Costa Rica looks at the feasibility to establish a second plant in Pailas with a potential capacity of 55 MW. The plant is expected to become operational in about 4 or 5 years.”
Today, geothermal power accounts for 13% of the total power generation in Costa Rica. The five plants located in Miravalles represent 8% of the total installed capacity.
The director of the Center for Geothermal Resources Services, Alfredo Mainieri, sees geothermal at a great advantage for his country, as wind, other hydro, thermal and biomass production and “preventive maintenance of those plants” puts them out of service for about 3-4 months out of the year.
At the same time geothermal is the second most expensive in production cost, with about $0.0622 per kilowatt hour, while hydropower costs $0.0381/ kWh.
“The plants have an economic life of 25 years, which is equal to the period in which they must recover the cost of investment, and in the case of geothermal plants you can retrieve investment in that period. After 25 years the plants continue only with operations and maintenance costs, “said Mainieri.
The country has great resources but as the majority of those are located in national parks or protected areas that represent about 25% of the whole country, the sites for potential projects are limited and therefore not much has happened.
As reported here before, there are voices that are asking for selected opening of those protected areas for geothermal development, helping the country becoming more energy independent and clean. Currently the ban favors oil based power generation.
Source: The Costa Rica News
