Costa Rica postpones development of Borinquen 1 geothermal project
Las Pailas plant, Costa Rica (source: Ormat)
Alexander Richter
9 Nov 2018
Costa Rica electricity utility ICE has suspended development of a large hydropower project and is postponing other projects, such as the Borinquen 1 geothermal power project, as it sees that current electricity generation capacity meets demand of the next decade.
In reports on the suspension of the largest hydroelectric project in Central America, the 650 MW El Diquís project, Costa Rican Electricity Institute (ICE) also announced that it will postpone development of the Borinquen 1 geothermal project.
ICE had secured a line of credit of $500m for further geothermal development by the Inter-American Development Bank, as we reported in May 2018.
Explained byIrene Cañas, President of ICE, “the indefinite suspension of the hydroelectric project is due to the fact that the so-called Generation Expansion Plan determined that ICE has the installed capacity to meet the electricity demand of the next decade.”, which also means several other projects under execution will also be postponed, such as Borinquen.
The Borinquen 1 geothermal plant was supposed to enter operation in 2024, but is now projected for 2026, and pre-investment studies of other energy initiatives will be reprogrammed.
According to the projections of the electricity demand, in the Generation Expansion Plan, the current conditions of electricity demand do not justify the development of large generation projects in the middle term.
Source: The Costa Rica News
