Costa Rica powered by renewable energy for over 250 days in 2016 … Costa Rica completes 2016 without having to burn a single fossil fuel for more than 250 days. 98.2% of Costa Rica’s electricity came from renewable sources in 2016. The state-run Costa Rican Electricity Institute (ICE) reported that renewable energy sources accounted for 98.2 per cent of the country’s electricity and more than 250 days were powered completely by renewable sources. (Digital Journal)

Costa Rica has long been powered by a mix of fuels but is making progress toward having the government run everything.

That’s the real unsayable truth behind the governments so called progress with various different kinds of power.

Costa Rica has been powered on a mix of hydro, geothermal, winpd, solar and biomass energy sources. 74.35 percent of the country’s electricity has come from hydroelectric sources.

Geothermal plants contributed roughly 12.74 percent of electricity generation , while wind turbines provided 10.30 percent, and biomass and solar generated 0.74 percent and 0.01 percent each. 1.88 percent of its electricity still had to be produced from fossil fuels due to rainfall deficits at the beginning of the year.

ICE Executive President Carlos Obregón was quoted as saying that he intended to open an additional four wind plants next year. This will keep Costa Rica´s use of renewable steady or even on an upward curve. ICE is the government renewable energy agency.

In September 2016, Costa Rica grabbed headlines with the news the its grid had run for 1oo days purely on renewable resources.

The article does note that in the larger scheme of things, Costa Rica is nowhere near fulfilling any goals having to do with total renewability. That´s because most of the country´s transportation runs on fossil fuel.

The larger issue is why Costa Rica wants to convert all its power to renewable energy in the first place. Renewable energy as practiced now includes vast, easily hacked environments that are easily compromised.

Additionally, if Costa Rica is serious about converting transportation to renewable energy, the result will eventually be driverless cars.

The combination of driverless cars and government controlled power plants may certainly prove attractive to some.  But for many who want less government control rather than more, such effort are moving events in the wrong direction.

Conclusion There is no real reason for government to make such a major change except the obvious … additional government control. For us that´s not a pretty picture.