Costa Rican Energy Potential

I have been know to say often that one thing Costa Rica will never run out of is food, since almost anything will grow in the fertile soil that exists here. However, based on an interesting article the recently appeared in La Nación (the newspaper of major circulation in the country), it seems that Costa Rica will also never run out of energy. This comes as a surprise to those of us that suffered the rolling blackouts last year during the dry season when the reservoirs of some of our key dams dried up. Nevertheless I guess the facts speak for themselves. Speaking of facts, here are a few that appeared in the La Nación article.

Costa Rica has the potential to triple its capacity to generate electricity in clean form without the necessity of using the resources of the National Parks, which account for almost 30% of the entire territory of the country. This is according to the Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad (ICE) as set forth in its report of future expansion called Estado de la Nación.

The additional capacity is primarily from the rivers (4,445 MW) with the balance coming from wind (208 MW), volcanic gases (98 MW) and waste from sugar cane production (95 MW) for a total capacity of 4,846 MW. Identified capacity for the short term is 1,987 MW. As such, Costa Rica is in an enviable position in the long term of almost tripling its capacity and of producing over 80% of its total energy needs from clean and renewable resources. That is certainly enough to put a smile on Al Gore’s face.

According to Pedro Pablo Quirós, presidente of ICE, the country needs to double its capacity within the next 10 years in order to satisfy increasing demand. According to ICE this goal is achievable and there are already specific plans to increase capacity given that the economy of the country is expected to grow from 5.3% to 5.5% annually over this period.

Further the article points out that the growth potential provides significant opportunities for the private sector. Past legislation has granted this sector the right to produce up to 15% of the total capacity of the country.

Scott Bowers