Costa Rica and Japan yesterday signed a financing for the sum of about US$240 million (25,991 million yen) for the construction of the Borinquen I geothermal energy plant, reported the state-owned Costa Rican Electricity Institute (ICE).

This will be the third geothermal plant in the country, coming after the Miravalles and the Las Pailas projects.

The 55-megawatt facility in the northern Guanacaste province will enter commercial operation in 2023, said officials at a signing ceremony at the Costa Rican President’s office. Funding form Japan will be complemented by additional loans from the Inter-American Development Bank and ICE.

Representatives of the Japan International Cooperation Agency (JICA), the Costa Rican Electricity Institute and the Ministry of Finance signed the agreement and a letter of guarantee. The event was attended by Luis Guillermo Solís, President of the Republic, and Yoshiaki Ito, Japan’s ambassador to Costa Rica.

“This is a contract between two friendly institutions. The conditions of cooperation are unbeatable. ICE’s technical capacity and democratic vocation makes all Costa Ricans proud,” said Solís.

The resources granted by Japan are part of a loan granted in 2013 for the development of geothermal projects in Costa Rica and ratified by the Legislative Assembly in 2014. They were signed for 40 years and with an interest rate of 0.6 percent. ICE officials visited the Asian country in February to finalize the technical, legal, environmental and other details of the loan.

Hidetoshi Irigaki, vice president of JICA, said that, “Costa Rica has been demonstrating a great international presence in actions to mitigate climate change. It is very important for us to recognize all these efforts.” He added that, “At Miravalles I, Japanese equipment was installed and has been operating for more than 30 years efficiently. This speaks of the excellent capacity that Costa Rica has to maintain the plant.”

“For ICE and Costa Rica, it is an honor to receive the confidence of the Japanese people back, embodied in this agreement. We will not give up on the mission to defend and consolidate our electric model, recognized in the world for being renewable, diverse and solidary, and that is respected and supported by sister nations like Japan, “said Carlos Manuel Obregón, ICE executive president.

Despite its small size, Costa Rica is the third largest producer of electricity from volcanic geothermal capacity in the American continent (after the United States and Mexico), as well as the eleventh in the world, said ICE.