A Wishlist for 2016 – Should Costa Rica Go 100% Renewable?

von 14 lubica


Costa Rica relies mainly on hydropower to generate its electricity. Source: BBC

Over the last couple weeks, the international and national media stormed the news that “Costa Rica achieved 99% renewable energy in the year 2015.”i

What does this mean in the practice? As we are celebrating such achievements, it is important to understand the key message behind. The media often refers to energy and electricity miscellaneously, yet this might be misleading. In the case of Costa Rica, 99 per cent refers only to the renewable electricity and does not include other sectors such as heating, cooling and transportation, which is an ongoing hurdle in the process of reducing carbon emissions in this country.

Returning to the breaking news, already in March, there were first positive messages that Costa Rica has used only clean energy to produce its electricity and continues the race against fossil fuels.ii Heavy rains boosting the hydroelectricity as well as wind and geothermal energy helped to power the country. Also biomass and solar contribute to the Costa Rican energy mix. As I was experiencing a hot dry summer in Guanacaste at that time, I started to wonder how the country manages to avoid risks of water shortages in the generation of hydropower.

The Costa Rican Electricity Institute (ICE), which is the state electricity agency, issued a statement in December announcing that it achieved “99 per cent renewable electricity generation” in 2015.iii ICE also said that 285 days of 2015 were fossil fuel-free; in other words its grid was powered entirely on renewable sources. Such announcements put Costa Rica as a forerunner of renewable electricity in the world.

Yet certain critical points persist. Even in Costa Rica several thermal plants operate which are fed by fossil fuel sources to generate electricity. In 2014, the ex-minister of Environment, René Castro criticized the ICE for using inefficient thermal plants running on combustibles to avoid electricity blackouts. According to him, in the most inefficient power stations such as “Moín” a kilowatt-hour goes up to 10 times more expensive than in one of the more efficient plants called Garabito.iv With other words the energetic input might be more expensive that what Moín actually generates.


The graph shows different costs of generating kWh in various thermal plants and other sources of energy in 2012.

According to the ICE, this situation is expected to change as soon as the new dam “Reventazón” will be connected to the grid as planned for 2016.

But even the new hydropower plant doesn’t change the fact that the thermal plants are particularly important during dry seasons in order to meet potential energy shortages and avoid blackouts.

In words of Luis Pacheco, the ICE electricity division chief, “ the nation is closing 2015 with renewable electricity milestones that have put us in the global spotlight.”v But the country`s energy sector also remains dependent on weather patterns and rain events which might become more unpredictable over the coming years.

My wish for 2016 when the new $2,3 billion hydroelectric plant Reventazón comes online would be that Costa Rica reaches 100% renewable electricity. But it will most likely depend on the weather during the dry season; effects of El Niño which is expected to hit strong this year and climate change events. In order to avoid burning fossil fuel in the future, Costa Rica needs to further diversify its clean energy mix and invest more in wind, geothermal and solar energy.

In his report to the World Wildlife Fund (WWF), Tabaré Arroyo stresses that with the great potential and favorable legal framework, Costa Rica has created an attractive environment for investments in renewable energy.vi Hopefully we will see more investment also in nonhydroelectric renewable energy, particularly solar power in Guanacaste, which is a Costa Rican province, known for long months of constant sunny weather.

Costa Rica is considered one of the few jurisdiction in the world that have begun to adopt more holistic approach, accelerating the use of renewable energy not only in electricity sector but also in the heating and transportation sectors.vii Given that transportation represents approximately 44 % of final energy consumption, it is critical to tackle this issue to achieve long-term climate change and energy policy objectives here.viii Today the country relies heavily on oil for its cars and that might be precisely one of the reasons why this year Costa Rica pushed back its carbon neutrality goal of 2021 by nearly 80 years.ix


The graph shows different costs of generating kWh in various thermal plants and other sources of energy in 2012.

Despite the weak points, Costa Rica has established itself as a world leader in renewable energy and in 2015 ranked within the Energy Architecture Performance Index, developed by the World Economic Forum, on the eleventh place.x Together with Colombia they are the only Latin American countries in top 15 performers. It indicates a good environment for investments in renewable energy. Lets hope that the commitment to renewables continues to be a political priority in a holistic policymaking approach across all sectors. I definitely wish to see more electric cars in San José in 2016.









Source: article by Irela Fornaguera O. from 10 May 2014 in La Nación available at: http://www.nacion.com/nacional/servicios-publicos/Paisplantas- termicas-ineficientes-apagones_0_1413658623.html

References:
i http://diarioecologia.com/costa-rica-cerrara-el-2015-con-un-99-de-su-produccion-energetica-conrenovables/
ii http://ecowatch.com/2015/03/23/costa-rica-powered-by-renewable-energy/
iii http://phys.org/news/2015-12-costa-rica-renewable-energy.html
iv http://www.nacion.com/nacional/servicios-publicos/pais-plantas-termicas-ineficientesapagones_ 0_1413658623.html
v http://futurism.com/links/costa-rica-ran-staggering-99-renewable-energy-2015/
vi http://www.bbc.com/mundo/noticias/2015/03/150323_costa_rica_energia_renovable_az_ep
vii http://worldfuturecouncil.org/fileadmin/user_upload/climate_and_energy/cities/policy_handbook_onlin e_version.pdf
viii Ibid.
ix http://insidecostarica.com/2015/09/25/costa-rica-pushes-back-carbon-neutral-goal-nearly-80-years- 2021-2100/
x http://reports.weforum.org/global-energy-architecture-performance-index-report-2015/table-ofcountry- rankings/

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