Costa Rica:

Costa Rica Invests in Geothermal Power (IPS News)

Miravalles geothermal power 

station. (Courtesy Costa Rican 

Institute of Electricity)

The government of Costa Rica hopes to increase its power generation by tapping into volcanic hot spots, and to that end it has introduced a controversial bill in Congress that would allow drilling into volcanoes in national parks.

In January, the governmental Costa Rican Institute of Electricity (ICE) announced that it is contracting equipment for the geothermal power station of Las Pailas, on the side of the Rincón de la Vieja volcano, in the northwest province of Guanacaste.

The plant is scheduled to become operational in 2011, adding 35 megawatts to the 163.5 that are already supplied by the five units of the Miravalles volcano power station, in operation since 1994.

That same year, a third project, the Borinque, on the northeast side of the Rincón de la Vieja volcano, will be launched.

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