PH Savegre: The missing piece of the puzzle?

Last updated: 09-Aug-2009

For years local residents have been confused about why ICE might want to run the huge SIEPAC high-tension power lines along the costanera from Silencio to Matapalo, instead of keeping them back up in the hills. In fact as recently as last year residents thought the route had been permanently altered for the better. However, this year the lines are back. Why?

Enter a project named Proyecto Hidroeléctrico Savegre, or PH Savegre. This is a 6 meter-wide tunnel, at a depth of 200 meters underground, running from a new reservoir they are planning to create near Rio Blanco, and ending up somewhere near Pasito. Total length of the tunnel will be around 7 kilometers, and is projected for completion in 2011. [This date is incorrect—see the second paragraph following for an updated timeline.]

At the end point of the tunnel, which ever route they choose, will be a 200 megawatt hydroelectric power generating plant. This must be plugged into the power grid, which obviously means they need high-tension lines nearby. ICE Engineers say PH Savegre is not related to the SIEPAC project, but they also say the alternative is to build an entirely separate power distribution system, which would then be used for PH Savegre, PH Pirris (an 11 km water tunnel under construction near Parrita), and PH Diquis (being built on Rio El General near the Osa).

Pre-planning and generial viability studies were done in 1980-1983. Work is progressing in the third of five project phases. The third (current) project phase involves feasibility studies to determine which of several tunnel route options will be selected, and is expected to be completed in 2011. If all goes "well" in this planning phase, according to ICE, funding will need to be legislated by 2014, and construction may beign sometime after 2019 or 2020.

See also: notes from a 23-Jul-2009 meeting about PH Savegre with ICE Engineers held in Pasito.

See also: information about the CR-7 section of the SIEPAC international high-tension power line project which is once again projected to run through Silencio, Pasito, Nuevo Portalón, Matpalo, and San Andres.

Included here are three different sizes of a map that ICE has provided. This is because some people have high-speed Internet access while others do not. To view the map, it will be helpful to have an image viewer that can zoom to enlarge an image that is displayed on your computer monitor. (If you do not currently have a good image viewer, many are freely available such as Google's Picasa.)

• Small: 68KB partial map that shows the project
  (right-click on the image below, and select 'Save As...')

• Low-res: 168KB low-resolution map. Suitable for emailing, and reasonably clear when enlarged some
  

• High-res: 25MB TIFF file. Extremely clear on a monitor, even with a zoom factor of 300%. This is also suitable for large format printing, such as at the new digital photo processing store in Quepos.
  

In the center of the map (upper right corner of the partial map, below) is a yellow label "Toma" where the tunnel begins at the edge of the reservoir. A yellowish line comes down from there, and then splits sort of in the middle where there's a red dash and a yellow label "Sitio de Ventana". The orange and purple lines represent access roads.

The two splits are alternate routes. The one that ends up with a green (A) is further up the river about half way between Pasito and Silencio. However, the one at green (B) is down in Pasito. In fact the (B) is drawn on top of a dashed black line which is the road up through Finca de la Rana Roja.