The Costa Rican Institute of Electricity (ICE) granted the new Torito hydroelectric project to Spanish corporation Unií³n Fenosa, which will generate 50 MW of power. The contract signed consists of the construction, operation for 20 years and transfer of the whole project under the BOT model, three years of which will be dedicated to construction. The Torito power project is located in the northeast of the country and will use the water of the Reventazon river after it has passed through the turbines of the Angostura power plant, belonging to ICE. This water will be channelled to the new Torito plant to be then discharged into the same river downstream the catchment. The plant will have two groups of 25 MW each. The new plant will require the construction of a 2.6 km 6.5 m-diameter tunnel. Visit www.grupoice.com and www.ufinternacional.com 39/08.

Invitation to tender, deadline 3rd April, 2008 for the geological and geotechnical study for the Los Hatillos tunnel, as part of the environmental upgrading project of metropolitan San José. Twenty-two core drillings, for a total of 765 metres, will be necessary. The geology is grey sound lava, with some interconnected, relatively dense small cavities. The mechanical condition is regular. As part of the environmental upgrading project of metropolitan San José, a 1,825 m water transfer tunnel is planned to transport waste waters from the Tiribí­ and Marí­a Aguilar sewers, situated south of the metropolitan area, to the Torres river basin where they will join the waste waters of the Rivera and Torres sewers prior to be conveyed to the Los Tajos treatment plant located near La Carpio. The tunnel's minimum cover will be 7 m at the beginning of the path and 43 m approx. halfway of it. This water tunnel will feature an internal diameter of 2.2 m and will be lined with concrete, either precast concrete segments or jacked concrete pipes. Contact Instituto Costarricense de Acueductos y Alcantarillados (AyA), tel. +506 2425491, fax +506 2425442. Read E-News Weekly 13/2006. Visit www.aya.go.cr/proveedor/datos_licitacion.php?id=2008LA-00008-PRI 11/08.

Consortio Noruego, comprising Norwegian divisions of NCC, GE and Alstom, awarded contract for Brasil Two 31 MW hydro plant on Varilla river designed by Statkraft Groner. NCC will construct transmission tunnel as part of its $50 million share. Visit www.ncc.se November 2000.

  6 km-long low pressure headrace with lined inner diameter between 5.8 m and 7 m to external penstock and 177 MW powerhouse on right-hand bank of 103 cu m/sec Reventazon river. Waters from 5.1 cu m/sec Truis and 4.5 cu m/sec Turrialba rivers also feed dam to make mean annual energy of 970 GWh/y available. This is the third, and largest hydro station on the Reventazon river following Rio Macho 120 MW and Cachi 100 MW. Tunnel is being lined by precasting the invert with templates made on site and continuous casting the crown. Contract for telescopic forms for the penstock tunnel was awarded to CIFA Spa of Novate Milanese, Italy in value $1.25 million for eleven 5 m-long sections and self-propelled hydraulic traveller which moves the forms using a central beam. A special injection system allows easy stemming of the contact area. Mobile working platforms can be folded using pneumatic cylinders and can move the whole length of the forms. Visit www.cifa.com for more information. December 1999.