In Costa Rica, the state-owned electricity company ICE is evaluating the renegotiation of prices and conditions in power purchase contracts with private generation companies.
The adjustments planned by the Costa Rican Electricity Institute (ICE) in contracts with private generators are based on the need to reduce costs and adapt prices and quantities purchased to current demand conditions and the availability of resources to generate energy.
Since rules came into effect on number portability, Costa Rica's state telephone company has lost 559 thousand lines, which have swelled the client lists of the two foreign competitors that operate in the mobile telephony market.
The possibility of keeping the same cell phone number and changing operator has existed since November 2013, and since then, Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad (ICE) has lost almost 560 thousand lines, which passed into the hands of Telefónica, which operates the brand Movistar, and Claro, a brand of the Mexican company América Móvil.
Two of the properties to be auctioned are located in San José, one in Heredia, three in Alajuela, one in Cartago, two in Los Santos, one in Liberia, and seven in Tilarán.
The Costa Rican Congress decided not to approve a $500 million loan that the state run power company wants to take out with the IDB to finance geothermal power generation projects in the country.
The deputies argued that they were not clear about the financial situation of the Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad (ICE), which would receive the loan, for which the State would act as guarantor.The decision to halt the loan approval comes two days after President Solis announced he is facing a liquidity crisis.
In Costa Rica current installed capacity is 195 MW, in a country whose generation potential identified in studies by the state run power company amounts to 875 MW.
Opportunities for growth in geothermal power generation in the country are reflected in these 680 MW which are available and as yet untapped, according to the 2014-2035 Expansion Plan for Electricity Generation by the Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad (ICE).
A story that has now been going on for twenty years could be resumed with the adoption of a legal framework to be used to consult with the natives living in the area where the 650 MW plant would be built.
EDITORIAL
Finally, there is a legal framework to start once and for all the "intercultural dialogue" that is needed to give the green light to the construction of one of the most important hydroelectric projects for the future energy supply of the country.
With a loan from the IDB it is hoped that the state power geothermal projects Pailas Borinquen I and II will be completed and improvements made to the transfer line from Guanacaste and its connection to Central America.
The plan by the Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad (ICE) is to invest the proceeds of the loan between 2017 and 2025, starting with projects under development in Guanacaste, Borinquen Pailas I and II.
The new system which has to unify purchases made by the Costa Rican government has been put in the hands of a company characterized by spectacular failures in its management and in the projects it has undertaken.
EDITORIAL
The importance of good management of public procurements is vital in any economy. And not just because of the direct economic impact it has on state finances, but because a system that does not promote transparency of processes and competition among suppliers causes the general productive economy to suffer as a result of the distortions that occur in the market, which is not governed by the competitiveness of products and services, but by cronyism.
The state run power company is preparing a contest to award two private plants with a contract for the supply of 5 MW solar power each.
From a statement published in the Official Newspaper of Costa Rica, La Gaceta :
The Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad (ICE) wishes to communicate to those interested in participating in the sale of electricity generation, under Chapter I of Act No. 7200, using photovoltaic solar plants, that the call for the selection process thereof will be published as soon as the Regulatory Authority for Public Services (ARESEP) defines and publishes, the reference rates for these power plants.
Keeping limits on private power generation blocks investments and removes the possibility of reducing prices and improving competitiveness.
According to the Costa Rican government authorities, the country's electricity demand is covered until 2019, an argument which has been used to rule out the draft Contingency Power Act, which proposed increasing private power generation in the country. There are currently 81 private companies waiting to be chosen by the Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad (ICE) to sell renewable energy.
The arbitrariness with which municipalities are issuing permits to build cell towers is preventing controls and the ability to demand better coverage.
The obstacles imposed by the different municipalities have forced the suspension of the timeframe which telephone companies were given to meet the required demand for coverage in order to operate in the market.
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