Costa Rica: Another Obstacle to Power Generation Using Garbage

The regulation which has been long-awaited because it would lead to dozens of investment projects, has been challenged in the Constitutional Court.

Thursday, March 3, 2016

The "preventing" machine still works very effectively in Costa Rica, this time to stop huge investments that would help solve the problem of waste disposal afflicting municipalities.

Environmental viability proceedings for energy projects using trash as a fuel source have been suspended after a constitutional complaint was filed against the regulation governing the incineration of waste.

Arguing, among other things, that "...professionals who could verify that things are being done as they should be in incineration processes, do not even exist " Allam Astorga Gatgens and Alvaro Sagot Rodriguez filed an appeal against the regulation that allows waste to be incinerated, something municipalities have been calling for for the the last few years.

See also "Regulations Announced for Energy from Waste"

With this resource, all environmental feasibility studies submitted to the Ministry of Health or with municipalities, have been halted until the Constitutional Court gives its ruling in this respect.

One of the projects that could be in limbo is the construction of a power plant in Guanacaste, announced by Coopeguanacaste in December 2015 with an estimated investment of $35 million.

See also: "Costa Rica: Energy Generation From Waste Still On Hold"

Nacion.com reports that "...This organization only lacks the endorsement of the National Environmental Technical Secretariat (SETENA) in order to begin to gasify waste. It has even offered to municipalities in Liberia, Carrillo and Nicoya to receive their trash and use it as raw material. "

"... In the area of ​​Los Santos, Agropecuaria 7048 they are developing a project to generate electricity from waste, using gasification technology. This firm is also talking with the municipalities of San Marcos Tarrazú, León Cortés and Dota. "

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More on this topic

Costa Rica: Rates for Power Generated Using Waste

April 2016

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.

Projects to Generate Energy From Waste

December 2015

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.

Regulations Announced for Energy from Waste

March 2015

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.

Oppsition to the Moratorium on Energy From Waste

September 2014

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.

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