ICE Kicks Off New Dam

Billed as the third largest dam in this country, the $627 million Pirris Dam near Los Santos was inaugurated this week. The 10.5-kilometer long water conduit leading to the twin generators, each turbine producing 67 megawatts, presented engineers with the most complex excavation job ever attempted here.

The dam is part of an ICE plan to produce all its electricity by sustainable means by 2021. Currently, 95% of its energy comes from water, wind and geothermal means but this year, diesel generators have had to take on more of the load because of inadequate rainfall to fill reservoirs.

The project was begun in 1997 with financing from the Central American Economic Integration Bank (BCIE), the power and light company ICE itself, the Andean Support Corporation and Corporacion JICA.

At about 350 feet high, the Pirris Dam's face is the highest in the country and required 728,000 cubic meters of concrete to build. Its generators feed the Tarbaca and Parrita substations.

---------------------------------------------------------------------   Update: Wednesday, the newspaper La Nacion reported that residents living next to the newly filled reservoir complained of cracks in the earth, cave offs and damage to houses. Their response to ICE's suggested remedies were scathing, terming them "laughable" while others expressed anger. ICE denied the reservoir was responsible

Among the cures suggested by engineers was to seal the cracks with clay to keep the water from enlarging the fissures. The problems began to develop two months ago when the reservoir reached 90% of its optimum level. ICE also suggested periodic inspections by residents, noting in writing where new cracks form.              

______________________________________________________________________

Another hydroelectric project called Toro II is due to be finished in 2013. Moreover, two other dam projects are planned, the Diquis and Reventazon dams but both have suffered delays in the early stages.

Ironically, the business publication El Financiero recently published news that, even as the two dams were being planned, local demand for electricity dropped in 2007 due to the economic downturn.

By 2021, ICE hopes that Central America will be linked by an ambitious  power grid that will include Panama. Currently, this country sells power to parts of southern Nicaragua.

Nicaragua's government also plans a hydroelectric dam in its southwestern sector not far from the Costa Rican border. But the project has run into stiff opposition from international environmental groups who claim the project will destroy extensive wetlands on the reservoir's site.