Costa Rica Praises Wind Energy Project

- Inauguration of first juwi wind farm in Latin America / Government targets 100 percent renewable energies supply

Guanacaste/Woerrstadt - Costa Rica pursues the goal of a 100 percent renewable energies supply – with the support and know how of German project developer juwi. The wind turbines installed in the Guanacaste region by juwi and its partners GDF SUEZ Energy Central America, a subsidiary of the French- Belgian GDF SUEZ Group, and the local company BC y Asociados, will contribute significantly to achieve the country’s major objective of a renewable energy supply as soon as possible. This was emphasised by Costa Rica’s President, Nobel Peace Prize Laureate Dr. Oscar Arias, during today’s inauguration ceremony for the first juwi wind farm in Central America.

The \"Planta Eólica Guanacaste\" wind farm in the region of Guanacaste was completed in 2009 and consists of 55 wind turbines type E-44 from German manufacturer Enercon. With a total capacity of 49.5 megawatt, it produces around 240 million kilowatt hours of electric energy per year. According to European standards, the wind farm thereby covers the annual electricity demand of about 70.000 households. Due to these impressive numbers, the German juwi group ranks amongst the most important project developers in Central America.

Costa Rica and its population profit from the wind farm in many different ways, especially during the dry season between December and May, when the generators will operate at full capacity. Costa Rica already covers about 80 percent of its energy demand with hydro and geothermal power. During the dry season, however, hydro power stations are only working partially, so that electricity so far either has to be produced with Diesel generators or be imported – both at high prices.

\"Today we are inaugurating this new wind farm because we know very well that energy is a core element for progress in the communities. We are also aware of the fact that Costa Rica can only cross the threshold to the developed countries if it achieves to guarantee to its population the access to sufficient and affordable clean energy\", President Arias said during the inauguration ceremony. He initialized the program \"Peace with the nature\" in Costa Rica. The supply of 100 percent renewable energies is a core element of this program that his successor Laura Chinchilla would like to carry forward.

Matthias Willenbacher, CEO and Co-founder of juwi, is enthusiastic about the future plans of Costa Rica’s government: \"We are very glad that we can support Costa Rica in achieving these objectives. The country is a pioneer: It demonstrates that the transition to 100 percent renewable energies is already possible today – if one is willing to make a change.\"

The \"Planta Eólica Guanacaste\" (PEG) wind farm is operated by the correspondent project company. Philippe Delmotte, President of PEG and CEO of GDF SUEZ Energy Central America, which is holding the majority of the shares in PEG, emphasised: \"As GDF SUEZ, we are proud of being part of this important wind farm project in Costa Rica, a country really committed to sustainable development and being one of the greenest countries in the world. We are obviously following with great interest its efforts to achieve a more open energy market, attracting more private investors.\"

For juwi, this wind farm is a milestone in the company history, which gave way to further projects on the promising Latin American wind market. Besides the market in Central America, the company is also focussing on Uruguay and Chile, amongst others.


About the juwi group:

juwi is one of the leading companies in the field of renewable energies. Since 1996 the project development company has been designing, building, financing and operating plants that harness renewable energies. The CEOs Matthias Willenbacher and Fred Jung together transformed the company from a two-person operation focusing on wind farm project development into an internationally active group with about 800 employees and an annual revenue of approximately 600 million euros. In addition to wind, solar and bioenergy, juwi also specializes in hydro power as well as geothermal energy. To date, juwi has installed more than 400 wind turbines producing a total output of about 600 megawatts, while in the solar sector, juwi has built around 1,200 PV systems with a total capacity of over 400 megawatts, among them one of the world’s biggest solar power plants in Eastern Germany. The company operates internationally and has subsidiaries in Germany, the United States, France, Italy, Spain, the Czech Republic, Greece, Poland and Costa Rica.

With their highly motivated team Willenbacher and Jung are following the goal of a purely renewable energy supply: 100% support for 100% renewable energies. The campaign »100 percent renewable« expresses this objective. As acknowledgement for its commitment, juwi was awarded, amongst others, the \"German Solar Award 2007\", the \"German Climate Protection Award 2008\", the \"Clean Tech Media Award 2009\" as well as the \"Entrepreneur of the year 2009\" and the \"Greentech Manager of the year 2009\". In July 2008, juwi commissioned the construction of the world’s most energy-efficient building in Wörrstadt.


Guanacaste/Woerrstadt, April 19, 2010


Publication and Reprint free of charge; please send a voucher copy to
the juwi Holding AG.


Attention editorial offices: For further questions please contact Mr.
Ralf Heidenreich, Press Officer, juwi Holding AG.

Energie-Allee 1
55286 Wörrstadt
Tel: + 49 (0) 6732 - 96 57 1207
Fax: + 49 (0) 6732 - 96 57 7001
Mobil: + 49 (0) 173- 6598211
Mail: heidenreich@juwi.de
Internet: http://www.juwi.de

Sprache:

Online-Pressemappe - alle Pressemitteilungen der juwi Holding AG | RSS-Feed abonnieren

---

Pressebilder nur für die redaktionelle Verwendung
Hinweis: Für den Inhalt der Pressemitteilung ist der Emittent / Herausgeber der Meldung »juwi Holding AG« verantwortlich.