ICE Buys 22 Turbines For Wind Power Project

The tall, white windmills that spin on the foothills of the Tilarán Mountain Range, over the northwestern province of Guanacaste, are now Costa Rican-owned.

The state-run Costa Rican Electricity Institute (ICE) has purchased 22 of the windmills – which provide 20 megawatts of electricity to the national power grid from the Dutch company N.V Edon Groep, ICE announced recently in a statement. ICE already owned eight of the plant’s turbines.

The February purchase came after ICE leased the 22 windmills for five years. The wind power project, begun as a joint, public-private initiative, is now wholly in the hands of ICE. The state power company paid $13 million for the 22 windmills, according to the ICE statement.

On the national level, wind power makes up 1.3% of the national infrastructure. Wind power complements Costa Rica’s national infrastructure, of which 76.7% is hydropower. Hydroelectric plants produce less electricity during the dry season, when water levels go down, and windmills produce more electricity as the winds pick up, according to ICE.