In Panama a bill proposes to regulate the electrical energy produced by heat treated solid waste.
The aim of Bill No. 156 which has already been approved in the National Assembly, is to create a National Commission for the Treatment of Urban Solid Waste, which would be responsible for developing and approving a plan for treatment and processing of waste, coordinating with community boards and creating additional incentives for legal persons involved in the process of generation or waste management.
Public consultation is being carried out on the methodology for calculating tariffs for power generation from solid waste.
The drop in oil prices and high operating costs are not the only obstacles to projects generating energy from waste in Costa Rica. Now the Regulatory Authority of Public Services is calling for a public hearing in order to "start writing" a methodology, ordinary and extraordinary, that will determine the reference rates for power plants using municipal solid waste.
In Costa Rica an electricity distributor has announced it plans to invest $35 million in a power plant to generate fuel with solid waste in Belen, province of Guanacaste.
The company Coopeguanacaste has proposed to the municipalities of Liberia, Carrillo and Nicoya that they send them their waste which will be used as raw material in the plant, which they plant to operate using the method of incineration.
Plans have been made to build a power plant in Colon using solid waste for fuel, with capacity to treat 450 tons of garbage a day.
The company Aguaseo SA presented a proposal to the Mayor of Colon to build a plant for solid waste treatment and power generation, with capacity to generate 15 MW / h. The project, presented by Power Waste (Aguaseo SA) will be funded by the US consortium Gem Energy Consulting.
Various projects for generating electricity from waste have been waiting for the new regulation, which states that only waste which can not be recycled, reduced or reused may be incinerated.
Municipalities are now able, with these newly approved rules to reactivate projects that have been on hold since June 2014, when the moratorium went into effect. According to the National Association of Mayors and Municipalities, at least half of them are interested in mechanisms to generate electricity from waste.
A year after the declaration of moratorium and three months after the announcement that the regulation was ready to be signed, the Ministry of Environment has now decided to "clarify some issues."
While huge investments are paralyzed and municipalities are struggling to deal with garbage in the best way possible, the government of Costa Rica continues to delay the adoption of a regulation that would allow energy to be generated from solid waste.
The measure which has paralyzed multiple investments remains in force because of administrative delays in the adoption of the rules that will govern the transformation of solid waste into electricity.
It has been noted that the document which contains the rules for this activity was ready three months ago, though Environment Minister Edgar Gutierrez, reported that "... we expected it soon to be stamped and signed."
The Ministry of Health in Costa Rica has finalized the regulations governing the operation of incineration plants which generate energy from waste.
Almost a year after the moratorium on power generation based on solid waste, which is mainly affecting municipalities, the Ministry of Public Health has announced that the regulations which establish the conditions for the incineration of waste are ready.
The Federation of Metropolitan Municipalities has renewed an agreement with the state power company to produce energy from solid waste and sell it for a period of 25 years.
This agreement was renewed despite the fact that there is still a moratorium in effect on power generation from waste, which it is estimated will be suspended in March, once the regulation governing this activity is ready.
In Costa Rica the Association of Mayors has submitted a complaint against the prohibition of generating energy from solid waste, and requested the lifting of the moratorium.
Despite the fact that on July 21 an agreement was made to allow one month to define a regulation governing the activity, the government has not made any progress on the issue and municipalities have decided to file a lawsuit with the Administrative Tribunal.
Municipalities in Costa Rica estimate that adoption of the regulations being prepared by the executive branch could accelerate the suspension of the moratorium in July.
The moratorium on generating energy from solid waste imposed by the government on July 11 could be lifted in late August, according to estimates by the National Association of Mayors and City Councils.
The government has agreed with the municipalities that within a month it will analyze the effects of generating power using waste before lifting the moratorium in June.
The Ministries of Health and Environment and Energy announced that they will dedicate a month to studying the effects of this method of power generation before removing the moratorium established on June 17 on this activity.
In Costa Rica the Solis administration has decreed a national moratorium on all activities attempting to generate electricity from solid waste.
The decree signed by the Executive Branch took effect in June and prevents any entity from generating energy from waste material, as some municipalities have been doing.
Prensalibre.cr reports that according to "...Gilberto Monge, Mayor of Canton de Mora, and vice president of the Association of Mayors and Intendents (NHAI), this decree 'is a mistake, because the country can not afford to slow down the development of technology, especially when we have issues with the cost of electricity and pollution, caused by generating energy using fossil fuels.'"
The American company Wastelectric has announced that it will invest $390 million in Costa Rica in a solid waste gasification plant to generate 45 MW per month.
The free trade zone in Coyol, Alajuela, would be the location of the processing plant measuring 40,000 m2 to recycle some 2,200 daily tons from 35 municipalities in the country. It is estimated that the energy generated from the process will be enough to supply approximately 108,000 households.
The mayor of San Jose and state generator ICE are proposing to install a plant to create electricity from garbage.
Plants such as these are on the rise around the world. In Europe there are more than 400, and more than 80 in the United States.
An article in Nacion.com reports that the initial proposal does not define exactly when the initiative would come online, and who would be responsible for converting the waste into energy, but agrees that it would be a private company, selected through a competition process.