Reventazon HPP

completed

The Reventazon Hydropower Project (PHR) comprises the construction and operation of a dam and 305.5 MW hydroelectric power plant (HPP) on the Reventazón River, Province of Limón, located at 8 kilometers southeast of the city of Siquirres (Caribbean side of Costa Rica). The Project design includes the construction of a 130-m high dam, a 6.9 km2 reservoir with a volume of 118 MM m3, a 700-m long diversion tunnel, and hydroelectric generation facilities. In addition, the construction of the PHR also requires about 20 km of new internal access roads, a 1.8 km long Transmission Line, spoils disposal and construction materials extraction sites, and a construction camp. Project construction started in 2009 and is expected to end in 2015. The excavation of the temporary diversion tunnel for the construction of the dam and the river diversion infrastructure have been completed, construction of the spillway has started, and all of the ancillary infrastructure (e.g. access roads, construction camp, borrow pits) are completed and operational. The river diversion took place in April 2012, and dam construction has commenced. The PHR is the third hydroelectric dam project the Instituto Costarricence de Electricidad (“ICE” or “Client”) will construct in the Reventazón River and will be the hydroelectric project with the highest energy production in the Country. ICE currently operates three other HPPs on the Reventazón River: Cachi HPP has been in operation since 1966, it is the most upstream facility, with a capacity of 108 MW; Angostura, currently the most downstream hydropower plant, has operated since the year 2000 and has a capacity of 177 MW; and La Joya, which is operated by ICE under a BOT agreement, started operations in 2005 and is the smallest of the three with a capacity of 50 MW. The PHR is located about 38 km downstream of Angostura tailrace.