ICE Forced To Dump
Arenal Lake Water
The Instituto
Costarricense de
Electricidad (ICE) was
forced to spill out
water from the Arenal
lake as it has no other
way of holding the
excess water from the
winter months used in
the summer months to
generate electricity.
The spill was enough to
provide electricity to
some 250.000 homes for a
month.
The Arenal dam and hydro
generating project was
completed in 1979 and is
one of the more
important hydro
generating stations in
the country.
Located between the
cantones of Tilarán, San
Carlos and San Ramón, in
Alajuela,
overshadowed by the
Arenal Volcano, the
Arenal dam is the only
dam that can hold rain
water from the rainy
season to the dry
season. The lake can
hold 2.4 billion cubic
metres of water fed by
the rivers Arenal, Aguas
Gatas, Caño Negro and
Chiquito.
The water from lake
Arenal powers three
generating stations:
Arenal, 157 Megawatts
(MW), Corobicí, 174 MW
and Sandillal, 32 MW.
According to José
Joaquín Azofeifa
Saavedra, ICE was forced
to spill 26.900 cubic
metres of water between
December 1, 2008 and
January 6, 2009, due to
the excess water in the
lake. That amount of
water would have
generated 53 million
kilowatt hours of
energy, enough to
satisfy the demand of
1/4th of the country.
Azofeifa explained that
the weather conditions
around the Arenal have
been very favourable, as
rainfall in the area has
been higher than normal,
which practically
overfilled the dam. The
spilling of water is not
a common occurrence,
said Azofeifa.
During the summer or dry
months the level of the
Arenal lake is on
average 536.9 metres
above seal level. But
due to the heavy rain
this winter the lake
reached 546 metres,
while the maximum for
security reasons is 544
metres.
Azofeifa explained that
if the water level is
too high, water will
begin to leak into the
landfill near the dam,
which can become a risk
for the area, causing
damage to river banks
and roads, a situation
that has already
occurred in the past.
Pedro Pablo Quirós,
president of ICE, said
the institution has a
blueprint to build a
second water intake at
Arenal to allow the
water to power to
another generator, so as
not to waste water and
take advantage of the
excess.
Lake Arenal is Costa
Rica's largest lake. In
1979, Lake Arenal was
enlarged to 3 times its
original size to form a
basin for the
hydroelectric project.
Many year-round
activities are offered
on and around the lake,
including windsurfing,
fishing, boat tours,
boat shortcut to the
Monteverde Cloud Forest,
kayaking, horseback
riding, and mountain
biking along the shore. |
