Costa Rica Wind Farm Completed On Schedule

The 15.3 MW wind farm uses 17 Enercon E-44 900 kW wind turbines and will generate enough electricity to power approximately 15,000 homes, the company says. Despite many logistical challenges, the wind project was connected to the grid on schedule, notes Alejandro Lobo-Guerrero, managing director of juwi Energias Renovables in Costa Rica.

“The construction of the wind farm was no easy task,” he says. “Construction work took place during the rainy season. Given that the wind farm is situated on top of the hills, the roads were slippery, steep and difficult to access.”

If you fly to Costa Rica and look out of the airplane window as you approach San José you can see them shining in the sun: the 17 Enercon E-44s of juwi’ s Eólico Valle Central wind farm. In the past few months, juwi Energias Renovables, a subsidiary of the German juwi group, completed a 15.3 megawatt project about 1,800 meters above sea level near the Costa Rican capital. Prospectively, it will generate eco-friendly electricity for approximately 15,000 local households. On December 13, President Laura Chinchilla will officially inaugurate the wind farm.

‘The construction of the wind farm was no easy task. Construction work took place during the rainy season. Given that the wind farm is situated on top of the hills, the roads were slippery, steep and difficult to access. That’s why we are particularly proud of the project,’ says Alejandro Lobo-Guerrero, Managing Director of juwi Energias Renovables in Costa Rica.

Despite all logistical obstacles: juwi connected the wind farm to the grid today, as scheduled. The 17 Enercon E44s have a capacity of 900 kilowatts each. Thanks to the excellent wind conditions, 37 million kilowatt hours of clean electricity can be harvested annually. This is a major boost in Costa Rica’s climate objectives: The wind farm reduces greenhouse gas emissions by 43,000 tons per year. Costa Rica’s ambition is to have 100 percent renewable energies by 2021.

juwi won the public tender in 2009 as part of a consortium, the two local partners are the construction companies BC & Asociados Marshall as well as MECO. The Eólico Valle Central wind farm is juwi’s second flagship project in Costa Rica. ‘Exactly three years ago, we connected the Windpark Planta Eólica Guanacaste to the grid. Back then, it was the most powerful wind farm in Costa Rica with an installed capacity of 49.5 megawatts,’ says Lobo-Guerrero. The 55 wind turbines produce electricity for 70,000 households. ‘We are happy to energetically assist Costa Rica in transforming its energy supply. An energy supply based on one hundred percent renewable energies guarantees sustainability, price stability and security,’ he adds.

The owner and operator of the wind farm is Eólico Valle Central S.A., a company founded for the project by CNFL (Compañía Nacional de Fuerza y Luz), a subsidiary of the largest Costa Rican producer and distributor of electricity ICE (Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad), and BCIE, the Central American Bank for Economic Integration.

Business activities for the growing markets in Central America and the Caribbean will be coordinated from the juwi subsidiary ‘juwi Energías Renovables – Centro América y el Caribe, Ltda. in San José, Costa Rica. Since September 2012 juwi Costa Rica also coordinates the construction of a wind farm in Rivas, Nicaragua.

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