Organized by the Costa Rican Solar Energy Association (Asociaciόn Costarricense de Energía Solar, or ACESOLAR), the event will feature a wide variety of firms that will present their products, including systems for heating water and photovoltaic systems for generating electricity, according to ACESOLAR board member Mauricio Solano.
In the ongoing process to provide all electricity consumers in Costa Rica the ability to generate energy from small-scale renewable sources and exchange it on the national grid for kilowatt credits, the Public Services Regulatory Authority (ARESEP) on Oct. 2 approved a methodology proposal for how to calculate rates at which those credits will be issued.
Despite Costa Rica’s talk of its commitment to promoting consumer-based renewable energy sources to produce electricity, the country is lagging in its efforts. One setback involves the country’s electricity distributors, who some say are dragging their feet on requirements to offer customers the option of connecting to the national grid with small-scale electricity generation projects from renewable sources.
This Sunday, people in 2,500 cities in 100 countries will march for action on climate change. Costa Ricans will join the “People’s Climate March,” as it’s being billed, with their own protest in front of the U.S. Embassy in San José. The event takes place ahead of the U.N. Climate Summit 2014 in New York.
The National Association of Municipalities on Wednesday will present a complaint to an administrative court challenging a moratorium on the use of trash to generate electricity. The temporary ban was decreed by the Environment Ministry last June.
Costa Rican President Luis Guillermo Solís attended the signing ceremony, saying the planned geothermal projects “will not interfere with territory in national parks.” Instead, he said they involve “new technologies that permit the exploration and utilization of wells without damaging conservation areas.”
A delegation led by President Luis Guillermo Solís on Monday will meet with representatives of the Japanese government to sign a $550 million loan to finance the construction of three geothermal power plants in the northwestern province of Guanacaste.
As Costa Rica debates the pros and cons of joining the Venezuelan oil financing program Petrocaribe, energy experts meeting in Washington warned that countries already addicted to Petrocaribe’s cheap oil could face catastrophe if the Venezuelan economy under President Nicolás Maduro implodes.
Geothermal energy, the productive use of the vast quantity of thermal energy within Earth's crust, is one of the few renewable, low-carbon emission energy sources that can consistently generate power 24-hours a day, irrespective of the season.
