Of course, the country was off to a good start due to plentiful rains at four of its main hydroelectric plants, the Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad (ICE) noted, RenewEconomy reports. Figures compiled by the National Electric System showed that it hadn’t been necessary to use hydrocarbons to supply the country’s grid in January, February, and March (so far).
“With these (rain) conditions and the reserves accumulated to date, the ICE estimates that the downward trend in rates for all consumers will continue in the second quarter,” the power agency said, according to The Latin American Herald Tribune.
It helps that Costa Rica has an excellent record in providing efficient, clean energy generation that’s cheap and the country ranks second in Latin America for providing coverage to 99.4 percent of its households at some of the lowest prices in the region, RenewEconomy reports.
The Transnational Institute reports that 250kWh (kilowatt-hour) would be enough to take care of the monthly needs of low income and middle income Costa Rican households, and it would only cost around seven percent of the minimum salary, RenewEconomy reports.
Costa Rica also does well in regards to renewables, generating as much as 80 percent of its electricity from hydropower as of last year, although a spate of recent droughts led to diesel fuel being used as a back up.
As a country rich with volcanoes, geothermal projects are on the way to make the best of this subterranean energy source, Science Alert reports.
The Costa Rican government approved a $958 million geothermal energy project and “the first plants are expected to generate about 55 MW (megawatts) and cost approximately $333 million to build,” said Jake Richardson from Clean Technica. Two other 50 MW plants will also be built nearby.
In a country where hydropower depends upon rivers, there’s definitely downsides, Science Alert notes. Seasonal ups and downs in water flow can be problematic, and last year, Guanacaste province suffered a devastating drought. Indeed, it was the worst drought that the country had seen in 50 years and a national emergency was called The Tico Times reports. On an environmental level there can be downsides as well because hydroelectric dams can impact riparian ecosystems and fish that pass through.
Science Alert notes that Costa Rica is a small nation. Roughly half the size of Kentucky, the total area of the country is only about 51,000 kilometers, with a population of 4.8 million people. Tourism and agriculture are the primary industries as opposed to more energy-intensive industries like mining or manufacturing.
Perhaps in the not-too-distant future, renewable energy will also be a major industry. Costa Rica is already off to a good start.
