July 12, 2018
98.53% of electricity generated in Costa Rica since 2014 is renewable.
During this period of time there were 1,197 days of clean production.
Planning, diversity, and a complementary matrix make it possible to optimize resources despite dry years.
The addition of wind and hydro plants (the latter at the Reventazón River) reduced the use of hydrocarbons.
Currently, renewable electricity in 2018 has surpassed 97%.
According to the National Center for Control of Energy of the Costa Rican Institute of Electricity (ICE, its Spanish acronym), over the last four years Costa Rica generated 98.53% of its electricity from five renewable sources –water, geothermal, wind, biomass and solar.
Between June 1, 2014 and June 30, 2018 the National Electric System (SEN, its Spanish acronym) produced 44,300.53 gigawatt/hours. Of these, 98.53% -43,647.72 GWH- came from plants that use renewable resources of the national matrix (see tables).
Beginning with 2016, clean generation was reinforced with the coming online of the Reventazón Hydroelectric Plant, whose role as a stabilizing reservoir is to contribute to maintain the balance between the country’s electric supply and demand and to avoid consuming hydrocarbons.
During these 48 months 14 new plants were added to SEN: seven wind, six hydroelectric and one solar that yielded 1,197 days with 100% clean production. By the first quarter of 2019 ICE will add the Las Pilas II Geothermal Plant –with an installed capacity of 55 megawatts- which will be the most modern of its kind in the Central American Isthmus.
During 2018, clean electricity has reached 97.3% so it is projected that the average over the last four years will be maintained. In March this year, Costa Rica’s wind generation reached a historic peak for one month: 216.56 MWH.
Since June 2014 only 652,82 GWH came from fossil fuels, used primarily in the fourth quarter, during the dry season. Garabito, ICE’s main geothermal plant, became the first in Latin America to install a filter to capture contaminant particles.
The use of renewable resources allows the country to have one of lowest rates of emissions of greenhouse gases from the generation of electricity in the world.
Generation of Electricity in Costa Rica
June 2014 to June 2018
| Source | GWH | Percent |
| Hydro | 33,124.54 | 74.77 |
| Geothermal | 5,280.43 | 11.92 |
| Wind | 4,908.86 | 11.08 |
| Biomass | 322.24 | 0.73 |
| Solar | 11.54 | 0.03 |
| Fossil fuels | 652.82 | 1.47 |
| Totals | 44,300.43 | 100.00 |
EDITOR’S OBSERVATION: Note the low solar percentage; there’s room for exponential growth.