Reno Wind-Turbine Maker Expands to Costa Rica
By Stephanie Tavares
Reno-based wind turbine manufacturer Mariah Power has expanded onto
the international stage with its first Windspire installation in
Latin America.
ASI Power & Telemetry, a Mariah Power dealer based in northwestern
Costa Rica, has installed one of the company’s propeller-free
vertical axis wind turbines, called a Windspire, in a
biodiversity-educational park near Costa Rica’s capital, San Jose.
Mariah Power specializes in low-cost urban, suburban and rural
vertical axis wind turbines for small business, residential and
commercial applications. It has turbines installed across the United
States.
The spires are designed and built in Reno, although the company
plans to devote the Nevada plant to research and development when it
opens a larger manufacturing plant in Michigan later this year.
The Windspire in Costa Rica is the first the Nevada company has
installed in what is expected to be a fast-growing market for small
to midscale renewable energy technology.
Costa Rica has already been ranked as the “greenest country” in the
Americas by Yale University and has plans to further its
environmental reputation by becoming the first carbon neutral
country in the world.
In June 2007 Costa Rica set a goal of attaining net zero carbon
emissions by the nation’s 200th anniversary in 2021.
The country hopes to achieve this by installing cleaning technology
at its few fossil-fuel power plants, promoting a switch to hybrid
vehicles and increasing reforestation projects.
Ninety-eight percent of Costa Rica’s electricity already comes from
renewable energy, but as its tourist economy and American and
European retirement communities grow, increased renewable energy
installations will be needed for the country’s electric needs.
“Costa Rica is probably the most extreme example, but a lot of the
strain on the grid is coming from growth and a lot of that growth is
coming from foreigners who are establishing themselves there,”
Mariah Power spokeswoman Tracey Trist said. “But the interest in
renewable energy is often also coming from foreigners.”
The country also has hopes of becoming a net exporter of renewable
energy.
The Costa Rica Renewable Energy Export Program bundles electricity
from a growing field of geothermal, hydro, biomass and wind energy
installations to sell to neighboring countries.
“We think Latin America has incredible potential for our product,”
Trist said. “Much of Latin America is fairly windy, particularly
Central America because it’s on a narrow strip between two oceans
with mountainous volcanic regions. Those factors improve wind
quality. Conditions are great in Central America.”
Increased sustainability in Costa Rica is expected to further boost
the nation’s already robust eco-tourism industry.
And Mariah Power’s Windspire’s comparatively low price has the
company well positioned for future growth across Central and South
America as American and European nonprofit groups look to fund
renewable energy installations in developing nations.
“In the future, the main issue has to do with the (price of the)
technology,” said Constant Tra, an environmental economics professor
at UNLV’s Center for Business and Economic Research. “Generally, the
technology as it is now is still expensive. It’s less than it was 10
years ago, but in the context of developing countries, it still may
not be cost effective. As we move forward with innovation in that
area I would expect to see more renewable energy production in all
of Latin America.”
And while Mariah Power is not focusing on expanding its sales south
of the border, it expects increased interest from that part of the
world when it launches sales of an off-grid Windspire (backed by
battery packs) in the future.
The off-grid turbine could boost electricity availability at rural
ranger stations, eco lodges, residences and ranches across Latin
America.
“We expect that to be popular in Latin America because many
countries there have a limited electrical grid, particularly in
rural areas,” Trist said. “This will provide reliable power." |
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