Costa Rica May Need Energy Storage to Keep Getting 100% Renewables Year-Round

#greentech Costa Rica May Need Energy Storage to Keep Getting 100% Renewables Year-Round

Costa Rica has gotten 100 percent of its electricity from renewables for 100 days straight this year -- thanks to hydro. But as the country strives to become fully carbon-free by 2021, it looks increasingly likely that energy storage will be needed, according to the Costa Rican Electricity Institute (ICE). “With penetration of wind and solar, in the future we will need greater regulation capacity than that available from dams, which will probably have to be covered by new options such as pumped hydro and batteries,” said Alberto Ramírez, head of ICE’s generation business. While the country has significant existing hydro reserves, only one plant, Arenal, is big enough to run all year long. ICE uses this, along with the Dengo and Sandillal dams that occupy the same waterway and together form the 363-megawatt ARDESA complex, to offset a lack of production from three seasonal ...

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