Renewable energy in Costa Rica supplied about 98.1% of the electrical energy output for the entire nation and imported 807000 MWh of electricity (covering 8% of its annual consumption needs) in 2016. Fossil fuel energy consumption (% of total energy) in Costa Rica was 49.48 as of 2014, with demand for oil increasing in recent years. In 2014, 99% of its electrical energy was derived from renewable energy sources, about 80% of which from hydroelectric power. For the first 75 days of 2015, 100% of its electrical energy was derived from renewable energy sources and in mid 2016 that feat was accomplished for 110 consecutive days despite suboptimal weather conditions.
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. 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.
Costa Rica has a geographic advantage over others in that its high concentration per capita of rivers, dams, and volcanoes allows for a high renewable energy output. 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. As a smaller nation with a population of only 5 million and no major industry, the need for strong energy infrastructure is less than for larger countries of higher population density. While Costa Rica's largest source of energy is hydroelectricity, other sources include geothermal energy, biomass, solar power, and wind power.
Energy consumption in Costa Rica
The commercial consumption of energy in Costa Rica has tripled from 1980 to 2009. The electricity consumption has increased by 4.2 times due to a high level of electrification. According to the World Bank, 99.5% of the country's population has access to electricity. Meanwhile, fossil fuel's consumption has increased by 2.4 times, caused by a significant growth of the number of motor vehicles.
The average yearly growing of hydrocarbons consumption in the last 20 years has been about 4.7% and electricity of 5.3%. At this rate, demand of electricity will double in 13 years and hydrocarbons in 15 years. The dependency of Costa Rica for fossil fuels reached in 2009 the 64% of commercial energy while electricity 22%. The rest of the basket consumption is completed by biomass (12%) and other energy products (2%). According with the World Bank, as of 2013, the energy use per capita of Costa Rica was 1029 kg of oil equivalent and the electric power consumption per capita 1955 kWh.
Costa Rica’s new Minister of Environment and Energy, Mónica Navarro del Valle was appointed to office in May 2026. Some see her as a way to reset the country's energy policies and align them with environmental organizations. Others see her as more of the same. As a lawyer, she has represented both environmental organizations and private interests. While some environmentalists remain skeptical due to her ties to real estate and development, many industry groups view her appointment as a positive move toward reducing bureaucratic friction for major infrastructure projects.
Sources
Hydroelectricity Costa Rica receives about 65% of its energy from hydroelectric plants alone due to its extreme amounts of rainfall and multiple rivers. 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 due to pending environmental studies and the indigenous consultation that the state-owned company should conduct in the framework of the United Nations procedures.
Dams
Costa Rica's largest dams include The Lake Arenal Dam, Lake Cachi Dam, the Rio Macho Dam, the Pirrís Dam, the Reventazón Dam and the proposed El Diquís Hydroelectric Project. The Lake Arenal Dam was built in 1979 as the first dam intended solely for hydroelectric power usage. It is located on Lake Arenal next to the famous Arenal Volcano, one of the major tourist attractions in Costa Rica. At about 33 square miles, Lake Arenal provides enough electricity to power 12% of the country. The Lake Cachi, Rio Macho, and Pirrís Dams are all powered by the Rio Reventazón (Reventazón River) and its tributaries.
The Cachi dam is situated on an artificial lake that was built in the 1970s and produces enough energy to power about 330,000 homes in Costa Rica. It also controls floods and provides recreational activities in the lake. Upstream of Cachi, the Rio Macho hydroelectric power plant has been operating since 1963 to provide hydroelectric power for central Costa Rica. On the downstream, the Pirrís dam is one of the largest dams in Costa Rica and has the potential to power 160,000 homes. It also employs 3,000 Costa Ricans and provides drinking water to 40% of the metropolitan city area. The El Diquís Hydroelectric Project is a proposed hydroelectric system that Costa Rica plans to build as one of the largest Central American hydroelectric plant, located in the Southern Pacific area of the country and is intended to provide the nation with 631MW, enough energy to reach at least one million consumers. The recently opened Reventazón Dam, the current largest hydroelectric project of Central America is located on the Reventazón River, with a generation contribution of 305.5MW to the National Electric System, enough for providing electricity to more than 500,000 families.
Geothermal power Geothermal power is a natural energy source that provides subterranean heat and power as a byproduct of volcanic energy. Costa Rica has six currently active volcanoes and dozens of inactive volcanoes. Unlike many other forms of renewable energy, geothermal can be continuously generated and is not dependent on weather. Geothermal energy contributes to about 15% of the energy in the country.
Plants
The North Volcanic Mountain Ridge in Guanacaste is the region of Costa Rica with the most potential for geothermal power generation. Volcanoes in the region include Miravalles, Rincón de la Vieja, and Tenorio.
The Miravalles Geothermal Field, opened in 1994, contains five plants and results in the production of 14% of the National Electric System's power capacity, or about 163 MW.Paul Moya, Emilia M. Rodríguez, and Alfredo Mainier, "UTILIZATION OF GEOTHERMAL ENERGY IN PROTECTED AREAS OF COSTA RICA" Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad, UEN de Proyectos y Servicios Asociados The Pailas Geothermal Power Plant, established in July 2011, produces a total of 55MW and is located just outside Rincón de la Vieja National Park. Rincón de la Vieja is a 600,000 year old volcano and the largest in the northwestern region of Costa Rica. In 2014, Costa Rica's government approved legislation for a $958 million geothermal project in the region to offset the country's reliance on hydropower.
Wind power While Costa Rica is not known specifically for its wind power, it was the first country in Latin America, starting in 1996, to harness this resource. There have been a few different wind energy projects developed in the past decade. In March 2015, The Costa Rican Institute of Electricity stated that they plan on doubling the installed wind capacity in the nation by 2017. As of 2011, only 2.1% of energy produced in the nation came from wind power.
Wind Power is primarily used in Costa Rica during the months of December to March, or the dry season. During this period, there is a general decreased rainfall in the nation and hydropower output decreases.
Costa Rica finished 2015 with an additional 59 MW of power generation in wind energy, after the inauguration of the Orosi plant (50 MW) in October and “Vientos del Oeste” project (9 MW). As such, the wind power total capacity in the country is planned to grow from 194 MW in 2015 to 393 MW by 2017, an increase that would represent approximately 10.5% of total electricity production.
Between 1996 and 1999 the first three private wind power plants began operation and in 2002 Tejona plant, built by the Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad. Later, the following plants were opened: Guanacaste (private 2009), Los Santos Wind Farm (built by the public cooperative Coopesantos in 2011 in the heart of Los Santos region, in San José), the “Valle Central” (built by the Compañía Nacional de Fuerza y Luz, or CNFL, a Grupo ICE subsidiary in 2011) and “Chiripa” (private, 2015).
In addition, the construction of five private plants during 2016 (Altamira, Campos Azules, Mogote, Vientos de la Perla y Vientos de Miramar) is planned, as well as another by the Compañía Nacional de Fuerza y Luz in 2017 (Ventus Project).
Farms
Currently, there are nine large wind farms operating in Costa Rica. The Tejona Wind Power Project (TWPP) is a 19.8 MW project, fully operational since 2003, that consists of thirty wind turbines. Most recently, Tila Wind, an even larger 20-MW farm, opened in 2015. Three of the remaining eight are owned by ICE and Compania Nacional de Fuerza y Luz SA (CNFL) and CoopeSantos RL. The remaining five are privately owned, and nearly all of the wind power plants are in the province of Guanacaste.
Solar power
Like wind power, solar power is another newer energy source in the country. The first solar power projects in the country were established in 1978 by just a few researchers from public universities at the Solar Power Laboratory at the National University. Though still on a smaller scale and mostly privately owned, plans for larger more commercial projects are beginning to break through.
Despite the country has a privileged position near the equator that, combined with the sunny weather during the year, made a solar power potential of more than 144 million MWh/year, solar energy in Costa Rica is in its early stages, and is even falling shorter than the rest of its Central American neighbors. According with an Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad (ICE) study in 2006, the national photovoltaic potential of electric generation for the projected population for 2015 is 222,000 MWh/year.
In 2012, Costa Rica inaugurated the Miravalles Solar Park on the hillside of the Miravalles Volcano. At that time, it was the first of its kind in Costa Rica and the largest solar project in Central America. It was built with the help of the Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA). The project's totaling was $11.5 million ($10 million from JICA and $1.5 million from ICE). This plant of 1MW only represents 0.03% of all the capacity installed in the country of 2872 MW.
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. In addition, in 2014, ICE announced a pilot program for solar energy use in housing that aimed to reach 600,000 clients, but in 2015, the institution ended the plan arguing that the maximum capacity was already reached, rising criticism from the solar energy distributed generation sector. According with ACESOLAR, more than 1000 jobs were at risk for such a decision.