Puntarenas Carnival
Features a salsa concert by Lubin Barahona, Feb. 18, 8 p.m., concert area, Puntarenas, Central Pacific, www.puntarenas.com/carnavales.

National Bands in concert
Puntarenas Band (2661-2654), Feb. 18, 6 p.m., Plaza del Pacífico, Puntarenas. Guanacaste Band (2666-4297), Feb. 18, 7 p.m., Central Park, Liberia. Heredia Band (2237-1780), Feb. 18, 7:30 p.m., Central Park, Heredia.

Live music at Brad's Grille
Leonardo Castillo (Girls' Night Out), Feb. 18, 6:30 p.m., Brad's Grille, Momentum Mall, Lindora, Santa Ana, across from Auto Mercado, 2582-0724, www.bradsgrille.com.

Singer Andrés Gómez in concert
Baritone, Feb. 18, 7 p.m., Spanish Cultural Center, Barrio Escalante, Av. 13, Ca. 31, 2257-2919, www.ccecr.org.

A new Costa Rican solar power plan will see the light of day thanks to an approximately $9 million gift from Japan, officials from both countries said this week.

The “Project to Introduce Clean Energy through Solar Electrical Generation,” proposed last year by the Costa Rican Electricity Institute (ICE), will enable Costa Rica to have its first solar power plant, which officials expect will help steer Costa Rica closer to its goal of carbon neutrality by the year 2021.

The first phase of the plan is called the “Miravalles Solar Project,” which will join ICE geothermal and wind power plant in Miravalles, in the northwest province of Guanacaste. ICE officials said the state-run institute has enough land there to install a micro solar generator capable of cranking out 400 kilowatts, which will help provide electricity for rural communities in the region.

Phase 2 of the plan – the “Solar Sabana Pilot Project” – will be built at the ICE headquarters in the western San José neighborhood of Sabana Norte. Workers will install solar panels on the institute's high-rise building to “show residents of the greater metropolitan area the possibilities offered by solar energy,” according to a statement from ICE.

The institute has not set a date for these projects to start, as both phases are pending final details of the donation, ICE said.

Costa Rican Foreign Ministry officials expressed gratitude for the donation from the “nation of the rising sun,” Japan.

“This cooperation will allow us to achieve 100 percent use of clean, renewable energy, reducing part of our carbon emissions, with the goal of being the first developing country to become carbon neutral by the year 2021,” Costa Rican Foreign Minister Bruno Stagno said at the signing ceremony.

The donation comes through Japan's Cool Earth Partnership, which is a $10 billion program to “cooperate actively with developing countries' efforts to reduce emissions, such as efforts to enhance energy efficiency,” according to the program's Web site.

“I hope through our cooperation that friendly nations such as Costa Rica can have access to technologies developed in Japan to combat climate change and achieve their objectives,” said Japanese Ambassador to Costa Rica Hidekazu Yamaguchi, who signed the agreement Tuesday along with Stagno.

Renewable energy – whether through hydroelectric, geothermal or wind power – makes up 94.6 percent of the total energy generated for Costa Rican consumption, according to Roger Carvajal, director of ICE's Corporate University Division.

Foes to friends: During his presidential campaign, Ottón Solís, left, slammed Laura Chinchilla, right, for being a puppet of the administration of President Oscar Arias. On Wednesday, they were seeking common ground in Solís' home in eastern San José.

Photo courtesy of Laura Chinchilla

Ten days after a mud-slinging campaign in which he criticized Laura Chinchilla, calling her a puppet of the current administration, Ottón Solís made amends and offered “unconditional support” to the president-elect on Wednesday.

Speaking to reporters on the back patio of his eastern San José home on Wednesday morning, Solís said, “I want to emphasize our commitment to … encourage and to help Laura's proposals that we consider important.”

Solís, the founder and three-time presidential candidate of the Citizen Action Party (PAC), trailed in second in the Feb. 7 elections behind Chinchilla, who is a member of President Oscar Arias' centrist National Liberation Party (PLN).

Solís named increased health services, education and security as some of their shared priorities, committing PAC's resources to the betterment of the country.

“There is a ‘p' in this conversation,” he said. “But it's not a ‘p' for the PLN or ‘p' for PAC, it's the ‘p' for país (country)…. This is a moment for Costa Rica.”

Solís spoke to reporters after a near two-hour conversation with his former opponent, Chinchilla, in his San Pedro home.

Chinchilla characterized the conversation as “productive” and “rich.” She said they touched on many issues, ranging from transparency to state support for small businesses to improved education.

One project that struck a chord between the two in particular was President Arias' Avancemos (Let's Progress) program, a scholarship-for-schoolchildren program that Chinchilla has pledged to build up.

She said Solís helped frame education not just as an expense, but as an investment, and encouraged her to look at security issues not only for immediate remedies, but also for solutions to the roots of the problem.

“Our challenge is to construct a better Costa Rica,” Chinchilla said, as she asked for support from her former opponent, Solís.

Chinchilla has already met with Otto Guevara of the Libertarian Movement and plans on holding conversations with other party leaders in the coming weeks.

In hopes of reminding Costa Rica's Supreme Court justices that they have a 3-year-old lawsuit to resolve, dozens of students and members of the non-governmental Marine Turtle Restoration Program (PRETOMA) gave the magistrates cake on Wednesday – a blue cake, in the shape of a shark.

“We put it upstairs for them so when they go to have their afternoon coffee break, they will remember that they need to uphold the law,” said Randall Arauz, president of PRETOMA, as workers at the San José courthouse weaved in and out of the building through a sea of balloons and banners carried by protesters shouting through megaphones.

Three years ago, PRETOMA filed suit against the Public Works and Transport Ministry (MOPT), the Environment and Energy Ministry (MINAE), the Costa Rican Fisheries Institute (INCOPESCA) and the Customs Department for violating a Supreme Court ruling that mandates that foreign boats must enter Costa Rica via public ports.

By allowing boats to enter private docks, PRETOMA claims that these agencies have permitted hundreds of tons of illegal shark fins to enter the country.

“We are supposed to be a country that believes in conservation, but this isn't conservation. This is a crime,” said María Salazar, a 22-year-old University of Costa Rica student, just before joining chants of “Los muelles privados, los queremos cerrados” (private ports, we want them closed).

Andy Bystrom, a spokesman for PRETOMA, hopes Wednesday's gathering will expedite the process.

“This was a big issue three years ago, but it's ducked under the radar,” he said. “Hopefully this will help get things moving.”

More than 2,000 cases are pending a Supreme Court ruling, according to Sonia Villegas, a court communications officer. This case is on the court's agenda, she said, but “it's impossible to know” what date the justices will resolve it.

Alex Leff contributed to this report.