Japan International Cooperation Agency Press Release —

Costa Rica’s environment minister visited Japan April 25 to May 3 to see Japanese environmental initiatives and technologies firsthand.

Minister of the Environment and Energy Edgar Gutiérrez visited Japanese geothermal plants, the management site of active volcano Mount Aso and the city of Toyota, Aichi Prefecture, designated an environmentally friendly “FutureCity” by the Government of Japan. The Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA) invited the minister as part of the Japanese Government’s exchange programs marking the 80th anniversary of diplomatic relations with Costa Rica, Guatemala, El Salvador, Honduras and Nicaragua.

Like Japan, Costa Rica is a volcanic country, and because it is has abundant geothermal resources, the Costa Rican Government is focusing on geothermal electric power generation. Geothermal electric power is clean power that uses steam from underground and zero fossil fuels.

So during a visit to Beppu, Oita Prefecture, Gutiérrez visited Japan’s largest geothermal plant, Kyushu Electric Power’s Hatchobaru Geothermal Power Plant, and the Yuyama Power Plant, where small-scale geothermal electric power generation is taking place. At Yuyama he saw geothermal energy being used for cooking, for a greenhouse and for a hot spring bath at a community center.

After the visit, Gutiérrez was invited to the bath owner’s traditional Japanese house and tasted an onsen tamago (boiled egg) and manju (steamed bean-jam bun), local products made using geothermal heat. He was impressed by the effective use of energy as part of the “local production for local consumption” concept.

During his visit to Toyota, Gutiérrez saw a smart house that saves energy through a home energy management system (HEMS), a hydrogen station and a base for ultracompact electric car rental. Costa Rica’s electric power is nearly one hundred percent renewable energy and the government is aiming for 100 percent next year.

He also took a drive in a Toyota Mirai hydrogen fuel cell vehicle. The government is considering introducing electric cars and incorporating them into global warming countermeasures.

Costa Rican capital San Jose has been designated a candidate city for the FutureCity concept based on a memorandum signed by JICA and the Inter-American Development Bank in November 2013 to promote the concept under the Emerging and Sustainable Cities Initiative (ESCI) in the Central American and Caribbean region. The FutureCity initiative aims for sustainable urban development that can cope with environmental problems and population aging.

In Costa Rica, using Japanese ODA loans, JICA is supporting the Miravelles Geothermal Power Project (signed in 1985), Cost Rica’s first geothermal power project, and the Pirris Hydroelectric Power Project (signed in 2001). In November 2013, JICA signed a memorandum of understanding for the Guanacaste Geothermal Development Sector Loan related to Guanacaste Province in the northwest of Costa Rica. And in August 2014, a Japanese ODA loan agreement was signed for Las Pailas II, the first sub project. Construction of the geothermal plants Borinquen I and Borinquen II are planned under the same sector loan.