Geothermal Direct Use for a Crop Drying Center in Costa Rica Implemented by In cooperation with Published by Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH Registered offices Bonn and Eschborn, Germany “Promotion of Geothermal Energy in Central America (Geo I)” GIZ Office San Salvador Boulevard Orden de Malta, Casa de la Cooperación Alemana, Urbanización Santa Elena, La Libertad, El Salvador, Central America T +503 2121-5145 F +503 2121-5101 E [email protected] I https: https://www.giz.de/en/worldwide/78071.html I www.sica.int/energias4e/ As of September 2020 Authors Helen S. Carpenter Based on the feasibility study conducted by: Mauricio Muñoz, Sofia Vargas Centro de Excelencia en Geotermia de los Andes CEGA Editing Isabel von Griesheim, Max Fernandez, Ana Lucía Alfaro and Karla Hernandez (GIZ) GIZ is responsible for the content of this publication On behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ) Design and layout Plasmático Media Lab (Consultant), Karla Hernandez and Neimy Giron (GIZ) Photo credits Marco Entchev (GIZ) 2 73% of the electrical energy production in Central America is produced with renewable energy sources. From that, 5.2% is provided by geothermal energy. Source: ECLAC 2018. 3 This summary presents findings from research on the technical, economic, and social feasibility of developing a geothermal direct use pilot project in Costa Rica. The research took place from 2018 to 2019 and forms part of the regional project “Promotion of Geothermal Energy in Central America (Geo I)” (2016-2020), which was implemented by the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ) GmbH on Executive behalf of the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ). The objective Summary was to provide technical support as well as incentives to invest in geothermal energy in Central America. The main counterpart on the project was the Central American System for Regional Integration (SICA). The technical support from GIZ will continue in a second phase that focuses on geothermal heat processes in Central American industry (2020-2023). For the project described here, GIZ consulted the Costa Rican Institute of Electricity (ICE), collected data and information, and established relationships with potential stakeholders. In 2018, GIZ commissioned the Andean Geothermal Center of Excellence (CEGA) to research the feasibility of developing a direct use project. The local community supported the initiative, welcoming a plan to create the country’s first direct use geothermal crop drying facility. The geothermal energy resources of interest, part of the Dr. Alfredo Mainieri Protti Geothermal Field in Miravalles, are a strong asset for the surrounding community. In the canton of Bagaces and in nearby municipalities, access to crop drying and storage facilities that use geothermal heat could improve farmers’ production and profits. Tapping into the infrastructure already in place for the Miravalles geothermal power plants can help producers dry and store their harvest, thus gaining time and growing income, all while learning about geothermal energy. A drying and storage center based on direct use of geothermal energy not only keeps carbon emissions low, it can also promote sustainable community development. Cooling Tower at “Alfredo Mainieri Protti” Geothermal Field/ Miravalles V 4 Benefits of a drying center Understanding energy needs: an empathy based- approach to design sustainable energy solutions using the geothermal resource for a grain drying station. The first of its kind in Costa Rica, the proposed area, so the proposed project fills an important geothermal drying center will dry, store, and gap for local producers. The use of geothermal commercialize crops and create jobs. GIZ researched energy reduces drying time considerably without the project’s feasibility in terms of costs, risks, and fossil fuels and thus avoids emitting carbon. At the opportunities, and technical, social, and economic same time, the technification of the drying process requirements. The result of careful planning, the stabilizes and optimizes product quality regardless drying center includes an initial pilot phase, where of weather conditions, which makes the direct use the project will focus on onions, rice, beans, and of geothermal energy a valuable anecdote to the corn—crops with the highest potential for steady unreliable drying and storage conditions associated and profitable sales. Over time, new crops may be with climate change. added. There are no other drying centers in the 5 An innovation that improves the local economy Field trip and interview with local cocoa producer, another possible beneficiary of the geothermal-powered drying station. The drying center can build the local economy Because many producers are selling the same crops in important ways. For example, a drying center at the same time, there is competition and prices can help producers increase the quantity of goods decline. After selling the harvest, producers must that they bring to the market. Currently, producers budget wisely or find another source of income. dry crops naturally on fields or in homemade Access to a drying center can change all of this. artisan facilities, a process where they can lose approximately 10 % to 50 % of their harvest due to Using dryers, producers can preserve more of their damage from sources such as rain, mold, and pests. crops and do so at a faster rate, decreasing the time it To mitigate this loss, they typically sell the crops takes to prepare them while increasing the quantity quickly after harvest. This means they may sell their available to sell. Producers can dry their crops soon produce after ten or more days of natural drying, in after harvest instead of leaving them in the fields. the case of onions and beans, or sometimes after They can control the amount of drying time and more than a month of drying, in the case of corn. the temperatures for drying, skillfully calibrating 6 Dryng Center Activities | Receiving agricultural products from the field-at first, onion, rice, beans, and corn. | Transporting produce from warehouse to either the onion drying room or the grain processing room. | Performing a quality control check. | Cleaning grains. | Drying onions and grains. | Removing husks and cleaning rice, beans, and corn. | Performing final quality control check to discard poor quality grains. | Packaging products with environmental or green logo in “quintals” (bags of 46 kg). | Storing products in dedicated warehouses. | Distributing products to consumers by transporting them to markets, public institutions, and government warehouses, or selling them directly at the warehouse. Through the interviews, experts pointed out that one of the Figure 1. Drying center activities crops that could benefit the most out of the drying station would be beans. moisture levels, yielding reliable and dependable quality. Afterwards, producers can safely store the local economy by operating a crop processing dried crops in the warehouses, strategically saving business (Figure 1). The center will purchase crops the crops to sell later, either throughout the year at fair prices, and then dry, store, and commercialize or during specific seasons when prices are higher. them for profit. The center’s activities will The availability of crops outside of harvest time generate income to cover capital expenditures supports government objectives to supply food and operating expenses, including compensation year-round in the region and it allows producers to for ten employees. Additional financial details are have better control of their incomes. summarized below. The resulting crop processing center will sustain itself for the proposed ten In addition to providing services and facilities for years and, hopefully, serve as a local institution for producers, the drying center will add revenue to agribusiness for many years beyond. 7 Direct use of geothermal energy Key findings pointed out that another crop that could benefit the most out of the drying station would be onions. The proposed center will be based on direct use of Onion dryer. The center includes a 300 m2 onion geothermal energy. Specifically, the dryers and the dryer that will dry 30 tons in three days, in contrast climate-controlled warehouse will recover thermal to eight days on the field. Thermal insulation in energy from brine pumped through the reinjection the walls will reduce energy losses caused by air pipes. The dryers will use brine fluids as heat sources. renewals. The use of the onion dryer decreases brine To access the brine, engineers will tap into a pipe in temperature by an estimated 0.1 °C. the western part of the geothermal field, next to route 165 about one kilometer north of Miravalles Power Onion warehouse. The center includes a 450 m2 Stations I and II (Figure 2). The area of interest, near warehouse with full capacity of 120 tons of onions. the Miravalles volcano, has similar temperature and The warehouse temperature will be 25 °C with a mass flow of brine throughout the year. In addition, relative humidity of 65 % to 75 %. These temperature injection in this area is always under hot conditions and humidity conditions come from an absorption around 165 °C, ensuring a stable supply of heat for chiller, which will reduce the brine temperature by three dryers and an absorption chiller. The existing an estimated 0.4 °C. power plants will lose little energy from the proposed drying center; the heat reduction is minor and is Grain dryers. The center will include three bed described in more detail below. type dryers, each with a three-ton capacity, and where each is able to dry rice, beans, and corn. These The facilities that will rely on geothermal direct dryers will decrease drying time from three days to use are an onion dryer, onion warehouse, and one. When the three grain dryers run at the same grain dryers. A grain warehouse will not require time, they will reduce the brine temperature by an geothermal direct use.