Renewable energy in Costa Rica

[6] The 1948 elimination of the military of Costa Rica freed up millions of dollars from the government defense budget which are now invested in social programs and renewable energy generation.

[1] As president of Costa Rica in 1948, José Figueres announced that the nation's former military budget would be refocused specifically in healthcare, education, and environmental protection.

In addition, Costa Rica is the fourth highest nation in terms of rainfall per capita: it receives an average of 2,926 mm of precipitation per year.

[15] As the largest source of energy, hydropower represents the most important source of energy in the country, but after inauguration of the Reventazon Dam, the only big hydro project remaining in the planning stage by the Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad (Costa Rican Institute of Electricity) is the El Diquís Hydroelectric Project, which has been suffering significant delays[16] due to pending environmental studies and the indigenous consultation that the state-owned company should conduct in the framework of the United Nations procedures.

[23] The Pailas Geothermal Power Plant, established in July 2011, produces a total of 55MW[24] and is located just outside Rincón de la Vieja National Park.

In 2013, China and Costa Rica signed agreements of US$30 million for financing the installation of 50 thousand solar panels, including a power plant of 10 MW.

Differences of bureaucracy procedures and technical aspects related to the official national norm “Planeación, Operación y Acceso al Sistema Eléctrico Nacional” (POASEN, in Spanish) on introducing distributed generation have been occurring and causing delays[38][39] in its implementation through the last years among the main actors of the solar sector: the Ministry of Environment and Energy (MINAE), the Autoridad Reguladora de Servicios Públicos (ARESEP, in Spanish, a public entity that fixes prices and standards on public services), the electricity agencies of the country and the private companies that supply solar panels.

The president of Costa Rica, Luis Guillermo Solis Rivera, appointed[44] engineer Irene Cañaz Díaz – a former consultant of the Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit - as Vice-minister of Energy in May 2014.

“Grupo ICE” has used as primary source the hydroelectricity for developing its infrastructure, but it has also built (and is currently building) several geothermal, wind and solar energy projects.

[49] The Costa Rican Petroleum Refinery (Refinadora Costarricense de Petróleo, RECOPE in Spanish) is a state-owned institution, considered the biggest company in Central America.

In March 2015, the CEO of Ad Astra Rocket Company and former Costa Rican-American astronaut, Dr. Franklin Chang Diaz, announced the end of relations[52] with RECOPE due their lack of definition and the delays the project was suffering.

The initiative has been kept[57] by the next administrations of President Laura Chinchilla Miranda and Luis Guillermo Solís Rivera and aims to evolve the national economy's carbon footprint to no more than 1 ton of CO2 emissions per capita.

[58] In addition, the Costa Rican government is also beginning to offset the country's carbon dioxide emissions with new budgeting, laws, and incentives, including measures to promote biofuels, hybrid vehicles, and clean energy.

[61] In order to achieve the goal, Costa Rica also needs to improve its waste management practices and agriculture methods as these account for significant proportions of national GHG emissions.

The National Institute of Technical Norms of Costa Rica (INTECO, in Spanish) published the regulations that private companies should follow to get carbon neutral certification.

Utility private scale projects[64] are regulated by the Law 7200[65] (“Ley que Autoriza la Generación Eléctrica Autónoma o Paralela”, in Spanish), approved by the Legislative Assembly of Costa Rica in 1990.

This authorization is entitled for acquiring energy from hydro, geothermal, wind and any other non-conventional source, in bundles equal or smaller than 50,000 kW of maximum power (added by Law 7508 on May 9, 1995)”.

[68] In 2016, continuous discussions in the Legislative Assembly of Costa Rica have been occurring for a reform that would allow the ICE to exploit geothermal energy in protected areas.

The bill addresses concerns over geothermal electricity generation in Rincón de la Vieja, Tenorio, and Arenal Volcano national parks.

[69] This initiative has raising concerns from some activists that claim the environmental controls led in the country by the National Technical Bureau of Environment (Secretaría Técnica Nacional del Ambiente, SETENA in Spanish) are weak.

More than 50% of Costa Rica's personal passenger cars are over 20 years old with high polluting engines, though the government is beginning to propose new hybrid and plug-in electric vehicle initiatives.

After an extreme season of drought in 2014, Costa Rica was forced to resort to diesel generators since sufficient rainfall was unavailable to power any of the hydroelectric dams.

[15] One main barrier to extensive geothermal power is the abundance of national parks and protected areas that prevent excavation near many of Costa Rican's volcanoes.

For example, though Rincon de la Vieja has the potential to fuel a high density of geothermal energy, Costa Rican law currently prohibits the extraction of resources inside national parks in order to preserve the land.

It will be the biggest hydropower dam in the Central American region and it is designed to provide stability and reliability to the Costa Rican electricity generation grid.

In their notification letter, CERD reminded Costa Rica of their obligations to consult and allow the participation of all indigenous communities affected by the project.

In July 2015, a US$200 million lawsuit against ICE and the Government of Costa Rica was started by one of the associations representing the indigenous communities, alleging presumed environmental damage during the preliminary exploration works.

In October 2016, after a failed meeting with authorities of the Government of Costa Rica led by the Vice-minister of the Presidency Ana Gabriel Zuñiga, a group of indigenous representatives and local leaders confirmed their non-negotiable position against the project.

In November 2016, the Constitutional Court of Costa Rica declared unconstitutional[80] Article 8 of the presidential decree that established that ICE is allowed to exploit materials for the dam, the powerhouse and collateral works in the areas where indigenous communities are located.

[81] Panela Pancha Panqueque Tortilla (Figura importante de gobierno) 1987: "Costa Rica debe mejorar en el biomass porque eso afecta mucho al país."