The Euro80M (US$107M) La Joya project was developed in line with the Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) requirements of the Kyoto Treaty to help reduce greenhouse gas emissions, and is the company's first power project in Costa Rica.
Construction of the La Joya plant, which has three units, started in April 2003 at the river Reventazon, in Valle Central de Costa Rica, some 60km from San Jose. The power house is fed by water from the upstream, state-owned Cachi plant and conveyed by a 8km long headrace tunnel.
La Joya, which was Union Fenosa's first Build, Operate and Transfer (BOT) project in Costa Rica should meet about 3% of the country's electricity demand, the power company said.
Union Fenosa is planning a series of further hydro power investments in Latin America, including Costa Rica where another 130MW of capacity costing Euro145M (US$194M) is proposed.
The company plans to build 400MW of mini-hydro capacity for a budget of Euro450M (US$603M) in Colombia.
In Mexico, Union Fenosa plans to build 100MW of mini-hydro capacity at a cost of about Euro165M (US$221M).
The proposal for mini-hydro capacity in Brazil is to build 80MW for a spend of Euro90M (US$120M), and in Panama the company will add 10MW for an investment of Euro15M (US$20M).
Union Fenosa is also planning a series of wind power projects in Latin America, in the same countries as it will invest to expand its hydro portfolio. Overall, the company plans to add 1.4GW in Latin America with hydro accounting for about half the investment budget of Euro1.65B (US$2.21B).
