Costa Rica exceeds 98% renewable electricity generation for the eighth consecutive year

ICE statement

This is an automated translation of the original press release issued in Spanish

Costa Rica added in 2022 the eighth consecutive year of generating more than 98% of its electricity with five renewable sources. Between January 1 and December 20, the country reached 99.25% production with its national resources, according to data from ICE's National Electricity Control Center (CENCE).

This percentage also allowed it to meet 98.68% of the national demand with clean sources. In December, the country became the first on the continent to certify these data; The LSQA company provided advice to the Institute to verify the processes, which offers added value to the entire National Electric System (SEN).

Also, as of December 20, Costa Rica had sold 747 gigawatt hours (GWh) in the Regional Electricity Market (MER). These profits – coming from 100% renewable energy – are directed to the Variable Cost of Generation (CVG), which allows lower rates for residential, commercial and industrial customers.

“We accumulate more than 300 days of the year without turning on our thermal plants, which also has a positive impact on rates. In 2023 we will not have increases due to ordinary requests, with which we give a strong boost to boost the economy”, explained Roberto Quirós, ICE Electricity manager.

The electricity demand in Costa Rica –which includes the sales of the eight distribution companies– will close with an increase of more than 4% in 2022. Water continues as the main generation resource, with 75.16%. They are followed by geothermal energy (12.97%) and wind (10.65%). Biomass and sun contributed 0.47%.