What happens after your country runs on 99 percent renewable electricity?

Whereas many of the world nonetheless runs on soiled fossil fuels, Costa Rica has generated practically all of its electrical energy from renewable sources of vitality for practically a decade. For comparability, the US generates simply over 20 % of its electrical energy from renewable sources.

Costa Rica made world headlines in 2015 for producing one hundred pc of its electrical energy from renewable vitality for 75 days in a row. Right this moment, it constantly will get round 99 % of its electrical energy from renewables. Even so, it’s not an ideal system. Local weather change poses new dangers to the facility grid, and Costa Rica has numerous work left to do to get extra photo voltaic and wind farms on-line. 

The Verge spoke with Kenneth Lobo Méndez, director of planning and sustainability in electrical energy administration, and Marco Jiménez Chavez, an engineer who works on era growth planning on the state-run electrical energy utility Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad (ICE). We needed to know what’s led to the nation’s success with renewable vitality and what issues it has to troubleshoot now in a warming world.

This interview has been edited for size and readability, and many of the dialog was interpreted from Spanish to English.

Costa Rica generates round 99 % of its electrical energy from renewable sources. How was the nation capable of accomplish that?

Kenneth Lobo Méndez: The key of this achievement is especially planning. 

Establish the capability of the totally different vitality sources so you may get the large image about how totally different assets can work collectively to get a renewable system. Within the winter, like a six-month interval from June to December, lots of the hydropower crops get surplus flows. That’s when we’ve low wind, however we’ve extra hydropower. After which in the summertime, like from December to Could maybe, we get low hydropower, so the opposite sources of vitality complement that electrical energy provide — primarily wind energy, biomass, and geothermal.

Why does Costa Rica rely so closely on hydropower, which makes up 73 % of electrical energy era? 

KLB: There are two predominant the reason why hydropower is so necessary within the nation. The primary one is as a result of there’s loads of hydropower assets. Costa Rica lies in a tropical zone with heavy rainfall. And in addition we’ve good topography [and] elevation distinction for producing energy. 

The opposite one is that the founders of this utility had the imaginative and prescient. There was a regulation in 1949 [which established ICE] that states that the nation ought to develop its pure assets for electrical energy provide. Hydropower was the one supply or the one expertise that was obtainable on the time.

With any vitality mission, even with clear vitality, there can nonetheless be harm. There was opposition to massive hydroelectric dams as a result of they hurt river ecosystems and displace folks from their properties. How do you concentrate on these dangers? 

KLB: Planning wants social and environmental elements, it’s essential. From the beginning of the mission, we get the communities and all of the stakeholders concerned within the mission. We all know that maybe this will likely be a little bit costlier. Nonetheless, with this attitude the mission will likely be held with decrease danger and we will fulfill our environmental and social necessities.

How is local weather change affecting electrical energy era?

KLB: That’s a giant problem, handle the hydropower useful resource sooner or later.

Our personal research have proven that within the quick time period, we gained’t see a major influence. Within the mid time period, like in 2030, within the north of the nation, there will likely be a lower in rainfall. A lot of the nation’s hydropower capability is within the north. So, it will likely be affected. 

In the long run, what we see is a rise in hydropower manufacturing — however within the west and south of the nation, primarily as a result of rains will get heavier, extra intense in that area.

Marco Jiménez Chavez: There’s a hydroelectric plant referred to as Arenal. It’s one of the necessary crops within the nation, and it’s within the zone the place we anticipate decrease precipitation as a consequence of local weather change. Within the south of the nation, we’ll get heavier rainfall. Nonetheless, we will’t get that rainfall into our system; our crops are usually not able to harness that quantity of water. 

So how will you put together for that?

The factor with a renewable vitality system is that you just additionally have to diversify so that you just gained’t be subjected to solely the supply of water. You possibly can keep away from that danger and share the chance with the opposite vitality sources. Hydropower will nonetheless be an amazing proportion of the nation’s vitality combine, however new vitality sources will likely be added to the system, for instance: solar energy and wind. One other necessary supply is geothermal as a result of it’s the one renewable vitality supply that doesn’t depend upon local weather variability.

We’ve received an issue as a result of hydropower doesn’t have the identical variability as photo voltaic wind. So, if we get extra photo voltaic and extra wind, our system can have extra variability. So, we have to get again as much as that variability. And that’s the place batteries are additionally necessary.

What results did El Niño and drought have in 2023?

KLB: There are two results that El Nino has on the nation. The primary one is on the demand facet as a result of the local weather is hotter, so all people is utilizing the air conditioners and the electrical energy demand will get greater. 

The opposite impact is a major discount in hydropower not solely in Arenal but in addition in different energy crops throughout the nation. We received a 16 % discount in influx to our hydropower reservoirs.

Within the wet season, our reservoirs usually recuperate. Nonetheless, they’ve been extraordinarily low in 2023. So, our predominant concern is that the new season in 2024 will likely be a little bit bit difficult. 

Does drought result in burning extra fossil fuels?

KLB: We have to have insurance coverage for the interval after we don’t have inexperienced energy, we don’t have hydropower. So, we get a small proportion of electrical energy from diesel thermal energy crops, however solely as a backup.

It’s suspected that diesel thermal energy plant use will improve in 2024 due to low hydropower. One other useful resource that we will faucet is electrical energy from the regional electrical energy market with Central American nations. Nonetheless, as a result of we’re in the identical area, in addition they have the identical issues. They’ve additionally received low hydropower; there’s not numerous assets within the area to share.

Within the US, we’re used to many smaller non-public electrical utilities. Does having a nationwide vitality firm like ICE make it simpler to undertake renewable vitality?

KLB: In our perspective, sure, it’s a bonus that the planning is held by a authorities state firm. It will probably make a plan for the nation in line with the federal government’s imaginative and prescient. We solely promote what we’d like, and there’s no interference from totally different stakeholders. It makes the planning course of extra easy.

Pictures by Justine Calma / The Verge

The Worldwide Middle for Journalists supported this reporting, and Punto y Aparte contributed to the report.