In 2017, Costa Rica Has Gone 300+ Days Running Off Of Renewable Energy

According to ICE, Costa Rica has run almost entirely off of renewable energy in 2017. For over 300 days, the country has derived 100% of its power from renewable energy sources. This comes nearly a decade after they set a goal to become completely carbon neutral by 2012.

Thus far in 2017, 78.26% of electricity came from hydropower, 10.29% from wind, 10.23% from geothermal energy, and 0.84% from solar and biomass. In 2015, 299 days of renewable production were recorded and in 2016, 271 days of renewable production were recorded. In 2017, they’re already over 300 days with less than a month to go.

“The optimization of the matrix has allowed us to take advantage of the high availability of water. The regulatory reservoirs offer us a guarantee to maximize the use of variable sources, mainly water on the edge and wind, and in parallel to supply the contribution of geothermal energy,” explained Carlos Manuel Obregón, executive president of ICE.