host posted on February 09, 2009 10:03
Mariah Power, a wind turbine manufacturer based in Reno, has decided to expand internationally, creating its first installation in Costa Rica.
ASI Power & Telemetry, a dealer for Mariah Power in northwestern Costa Rica, installed one of the company’s propeller-free vertical axis wind turbines, named a Windspire, in a biodiversity-educational park near Costa Rica capital, San Jose. Mariah Power specializes in inexpensive urban, suburban, and rural vertical axis wind turbines. These turbines are ideal for commercial, residential, and small business applications. Mariah Power has had its turbines installed across the United States. The spires are designed and built in Reno, however the firm plans to use the Nevada plant to research and development when it opens a larger plant for manufacturing plant in Michigan.
The Windspire in Costa Rica is the first which the company has installed in what is projected to be rapidly expanding market in alternative energy efforts. Yale University has already ranked Costa Rica as the “greenest country” in the Americas, while the country has plans to further this reputation by becoming the first country in the world which is “carbon neutral.” Costa Rica set the goal of emitting zero carbon emissions in June of 2007, promising results by 2021. The country hopes to make the achievement using clean technology installations at the few remaining fossil fuel using power plants, as well as promoting hybrid vehicles while increasing reforestation projects. Although 98 percent of Costa Rica’ electricity is already fueled by renewable energy, the tourist industry requires additional renewable energy installations to meet the country’s electrical needs. The country also hopes of becoming a net exporter of alternative energy.
The Costa Rica Renewable Energy Export Program combines electricity from an increasing field of hydro, geothermal, wind energy, and biomass installations to sell to other nations. Increasing sustainability in Costa Rica is projected to further raise the country’s already large eco-tourism industry. Mariah Power’s Windspire has a low price comparatively, placing the company in a good position for growth in Central and South America, while European and American nonprofit groups seek to fund alternative energy installations in developing countries. While Mariah Power is not focusing on expanding its distribution below the southern border, it does expect to increase the level of interest from that portion of the world when it launches sales of Windspires off the grid in the future.