The Hydro-Electric Power Plant and Sustainability

While we were in Arenal, we stopped at a hydroelectric power plant that supplies much of the electricity to surrounding towns in Costa Rica. It is owned by ICE, the main power and telephone company in Costa Rica. Also, "ICE is the sole authority of Costa Rica's electric power system, with hydroelectric power accounting for about three-quarters of its total power supply." This is very crucial for maintaning Costa Rica's commitment to the environment. While we were there, we got to stand on the dam and one of the mangers of the companies that owns the plant told us everything about it. We learned how it all worked and found out some pretty interesting facts about how it operates. The dam took two years to build, and the water is drained from the river down 2 miles of pipes to the power generation station. This allsows the water to reach super fast speeds so that it can spin the turbines and create electricity. We got to see the turbines in action and it was incredible to see how fast they really spun. The hydroelectric power plant is a great source of renewable energy, especially in Costa Rica where it rains almost every day. This is one example of how sustainability can be applied to certain areas depending on the environment that it is located in. Other areas of the world should find out what source of renewable energy will work best for their ecosystem and use this to benefit the environment as much as possible and curb us away from our dependence on fossil fuels. Here are a few pictures from the power plant:

View of the dam. The water was pretty dirty from all the sediment.

Daine and Steve!

Marty and Rob on the other side.

I thin one of the holding tanks.

One of the turbines spinning to create electricity.