The Chiripa wind farm of 49.5 MW had been inaugurated officially in Tilarán, Costa Rica.
The farm was inaugurated in presence of vice president Ana Helena Chacón of Costa Rica.
A consortium comprising Spain’s Acciona and Costa Rica’s Ecoenergía under a 65 – 35 ratio owns the facility.
The Acciona Energia CEO Rafael Matero, Spanish Ambassador to Costa Rica, Jesús Rodríguez-Andía, Grupo Ecoenergía directors Salomon Lechtman and Samuel Viroslav, the Mayor of Tilarán, Jovel Arias and representatives of the ICE (Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad) had attended the ceremony.
Built after a $125 million investment, the commercial operation of the farm began in July.
The electricity produced will be sold to the ICE under a 20-year power purchase agreement.
33 Acciona AW 77/1500 wind turbines with a 1.5 MW capacity will be operational, which features a rotor diameter of 77 meters mounted atop an 80 meter steel tower.
The location provides good wind resource, which will enable a generation of more than 200 GW, equivalent to the consumption of 80,000 homes annually.
The project will nullify emission of around 192,000 metric tons of C02 to the atmosphere from coal-fired power stations.
Costa Rica has to increase its efforts to generate more energy from clean technologies. Investing in renewables is important because it makes country more competitive, pointed out the vice president during her speech.
Investing in Costa Rica has been a very satisfactory experience. This ACCIONA Energy’s first milestone in the country will be continued in the future, stated, Rafael Matero, CEO, Acciona.
Sabeena Wahid
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