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Costa Rica, World Cup and good news for geothermal project

Costa Rica, World Cup and good news for geothermal project Celebrations after the Uruguay-Costa Rica game, Football World Cup 2014 (source: flickr/ Mario, creative commons)
Alexander Richter 2 Jul 2014

Costa Rica's national football squad reaches the quarter finals at this year's FIFA football World Cup in Brazil and the country's legislators approve a loan package for the large geothermal project at Guanacaste.

There are good news about Costa Rica. Yes, the recent geothermal news are probably more fitting for being reported on ThinkGeoEnergy, but probably at the moment the predominant news is for Costa Rica having reached the quarter finals at the ongoing Football World Cup in Brazil … and for our American readers, yes we are talking about soccer and sorry your team did not make it despite a fantastic game last night.

So congratulations to Costa Rica and its national squad.

In other news from Costa Rica, “members of the Legislative Assembly unanimously approved in first debate yesterday a series of loan agreements toward the development of geothermal energy in Guanacaste”, as reported by Inside Costa Rica.

“The $958 million USD project will be financed with a loan of $540 million from the Japanese International Cooperation Agency, along with a loan of $70 million from the European Investment Bank, according to reports.  The Costa Rican Electricity Institute (ICE) will fund the remainder of the project, reports indicate.

The project consists of three geothermal generation stations: Pailas II, Borinquen I, and Borinquen II.  The installations will be located between Bagaces and Cañas, near the Rincon de la Vieja volcano in Guanacaste.

Supporters of the project said the development would bring much-needed jobs to the province and further its development, along with lowering electricity prices over time.

The bill is now in the hands of the Constitutional Court for review, and is expected to be voted on in second reading in the coming days.”

To learn more about geothermal development, financing and status of development in Latin America and the Caribbean, check out the GeoLAC event taking place in San Jose, Costa Rica, July 16-17, 2014. A special discount code is available for the readers of ThinkGeoEnergy. (“TGEGEOLAC14”)

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Source: Inside Costa Rica