The national electrical monopoly ICE has chosen 11 projects of clean private industry to buy 140 megawatts of generation power for this energy starved nation.

Among them are five projects of wind energy totaling 100 megawatts nearly three times cheaper than ICE itself can generate it. The other six are hydroelectric to produce 40 megawatts.

In the bidding, the cheapest source was a wind energy project selling electricity to ICE at a little over 8/10 of a U.S. cent per megawatt-hour. This price is far below the $.22 ICE must pay its National Power and Light Company subsidiary for a similar wind generation park that will go on line this month.

The latter wind park, which was financed by the Central American Economic Integration Bank, generates 15.3 megawatts. It represents an investment of $44.5 million. Its cost entailed the construction of 6.4 kilometer access road.

But La Nacion reported that executive director of the Costa Rican Electricity Association Mario Alvarado, is critical of the latter project because its location does not receive enough wind to keep the three vanes on its towers moving.

The advantage of wind energy is that this climate produces most wind in the dry season, just when water levels in hydroelectric dams drop to their lowest levels, inhibiting electric production.

But it is also more critical this year, because of a relative drought that has forced ICE to run internal combustion generators to keep up with demand, using more expensive imported fossil fuels–a cost absorbed by consumers.

Another advantage is that it takes relatively little time to erect the towers and install generation machinery than it does to build a hydroelectric dam.

The maximum rate that ICE can buy privately generated wind energy is $0.1171. Due to ICE engineers’ past fascination with hydroelectric power, dams produce 70% of the country’s electricity.

It has been only a few years that ICE’s monopoly in energy production was changed, allowing the state-owned company to buy auxiliary power from private sources.

The change in the law came just in time as demand spiked for the country’s “smokeless” industry turning out technological products in industrial parks — and consuming fantastic amounts of energy doing it.

The prices offered to ICE by small private dams is quite competitive with the cost of electricity generating in ICE’s larger dams. To relieve the energy pinch, ICE is constructing two large hydroelectric dams that are behind schedule.

Source: Fijatevos.com