Fall

08

December 2014

Energy Security with

Renewable Sources: Is it
possible for Costa Rica?
Jehykin Umaa Mayorga (s 0547767)
Final essay for the subject of Environmental Economics
Prof: Christine Werthman
Winter Semester 2014

Masters in International and Development Economics,

MIDE.HTW Berlin

Table of Contents
Introduction........................................................................................ 3
Energy Security................................................................................... 4
Definition...................................................................................................4
Relevance..................................................................................................4
Parameters to measure energy security.......................................................4
Options to achieve energy security..............................................................5
Feasibility of continue use of dirty electricity...........................................6

Renewable energies............................................................................7
Definition...................................................................................................7
Types of renewable energies.......................................................................7
Advantages of Renewable energies.............................................................8
Potential of Renewable energies................................................................10

Security of electricity supply in Costa Rica through renewable energies

........................................................................................................ 10
Background of the electricity situation in Costa Rica..................................10
ICE (Costa Rican Electricity Institute).........................................................................10
Different sources of energy used in Costa Rica..........................................................10
Central American Electrical Interconnection System..................................................12
Consequences of the high cost of electricity in Costa Rica........................................12
Potential of renewable energies in Costa Rica............................................13
Challenges for the future of clean electricity generation.............................13
Advantages of investment in renewable energies in Costa Rica...................14

Conclusions and Recommendations....................................................15

Electricity Security in Costa Rica through renewable energies: Is it possible?
................................................................................................................ 15
Future of electricity in Costa Rica..............................................................15
Challenges to overcome............................................................................16

Bibliography.....................................................................................18

Introduction
The environment has suffered the consequences of the development of the world in the last century,
and the effects are, now, more tangible than never before. Global warming, melting of the ice caps,
increase in the sea level, droughts, floods natural disasters in general are everyday-topics in the
news, a reality for millions around the globe and the cause of death for as much as 160,000 people
each year, according to the World Health Organization. But this development era that has affected the
environment has brought less than 20% of the population to a stage of development, according to
the data provided by World Bank.
No doubt that assuring the energy supply and, specifically electricity, is a key factor to bring welfare
and development to the remaining 80% of the population and the future generations. Therefore, we
should ask ourselves: What impact will it have in the environment to take 80% of the population to a
status of development? Can we afford to do it in the same way that the now-developed countries did
it in the past? Is there another way?
The seventh Millennium Development Goal (MDG) is to ensure environmental sustainability, but just
the first two targets are focused on sustainable development (7.A) and the lost of environmental
resources and biodiversity (7.B), whereas the other targets are more focused on access to safe
water and sanitation (7.3) and the improvement in the lives of slum dwellers (7.4) (United Nations,
2011); all of them, with no specific guidelines or real and measurable targets (except, maybe, for the
fourth target). This can give us a hint of the importance of the environment on the agenda of
development.
This paper will analyze the concepts of energy security, focused on the supply of electricity, as well
as renewable energies, in order to answer the question of whether or not is it feasible to assure the
necessary provision of electricity through renewable energies; all this focused in the case of Costa
Rica, a developing country that has a strong commitment with the environment protection, a goal of
achieving carbon neutrality for 2021, immense potential for renewable energy production and interests
in continuing being an example when it comes to good practices regarding environmental policies and
biodiversity protection.

Energy Security

Definition
The International Energy Agency defines energy security as the uninterrupted availability of energy
sources at an affordable price (IEA, 2014). This already gives us a wide but clear description of two
important elements that have to be considered when discussing energy security, which are
availability and affordability. Moreover, according to Asif and Muneer (2007), energy security means
consistent availability of sufficient energy in various forms at affordable prices.
Even though some authors, when talking about energy security, might cite the four As of energy
security: Affordability, Availability, Accessibility and Acceptability (Jewell et al, 2014), Jewell et al
defined the term as low vulnerability of vital energy systems, delineated along geographic and
sectorial boundaries in order to create a framework that will facilitate to measure and compare the
energy security in the future, when the matrix of energy in the world had, hopefully, evolved.
Furthermore, Jewell et al define the vulnerabilities in terms of sovereignty, robustness and resilience
and give a very interesting and multidimensional way of approaching the boundaries, both in
geographic, as well as in sectorial boundaries such as energy sources, energy carriers and energy
end-uses.

Relevance
Imagine a country were you have no security on how much the price of the electricity for the next
month will be, or whether or not you will have a constant supply of electricity for the production of the
goods or services that you want to produce. Would you invest in a country like that? How can the
business community or entrepreneurs work under that uncertainty? Moreover, what would be the
implications of blackouts on sectors such as national security or medical attention in a country that
does not have a secure supply of electricity?
Whether we are talking about legal, political, economical, energy or national security; stability is
necessary for investment, just as investment is necessary for development. This are just examples of
why energy security is such a relevant topic nowadays.

Parameters to measure energy security

Even when many authors have developed a long list of indicators to measure energy security in order
to compare either the development of it across the countries for a determined period or to evaluate the
development of energy security of a country or region over the time, Jewel et al have listed a set of

indicators that can be used, even if the energy matrix evolves to a low-carbon scenario. These
indicators include: global energy trade, geographic diversity of exports, net import dependency, energy
intensity, diversity of energy sources in primary energy supply, diversity of primary energy sources in
carriers, diversity of primary energy sources in end-use sectors and a set of robustness indicators.
Even thought the definitions and formulas of the different parameters to evaluate energy security
mentioned above might be of interest for the reader, as the end of this paper is not to evaluate the
energy security of any country, we will no go further on the definitions or formulas of these indicators,
but refer the reader to the above mentioned article for further information on the parameters. What is
important for the purposes of this paper is to keep in mind the indicators when discussing the concept
of energy security.

Options to achieve energy security

Just like in the world of investment, diversity is a key word for energy security. Most of the countries
have an energy matrix with a variety of sources for the production of electricity and this is reflected in
the data of the World Bank that indicates that, as 2011, just Albania and Paraguay (Hydro), Bahrain,
Quatar and Turkmenistan (Natural Gas) and Bostwana (Coal) depended on only one source for its
generation of electricity.
As we can see in figure 1, the world in average has a rather diversified matrix of sources for its
electricity generation, but more than two thirds of its sources (coal, oil and natural gas) liberate carbon
dioxide to the atmosphere in the process, whereas nuclear power, as appointed by Sackett (2001)
faces challenges of the radioactive waste and safety.

Sources for Electricity GenerationWorld AVG, 2011

Renewable; 4%
Hydropower; 16%
Coal; 42%
Nuclear power; 12%

Natural Gas; 22% Oil; 4%

Feasibility of continue use of dirty electricity

As shown in the previous figure, the world relies in dirty sources of energy for the production of
electricity but, is this sustainable? Can we continue burning coal, oil and natural gas as we have done
it in the last years?
First, we should take into considerations whether or not are there enough reserves in the world to
keep on the same pattern of electricity generation. Despite of the fact that we have been hearing for a
long time now that the reserves of oil will soon be consumed, more and more reserves had been
found in the past years but, according to the BGR (2004), we had left less than 50 years of reserves of
fossil fuels, not just for electricity generation, but for all energy related purposes, including
transportation. Moreover, according to a statistical review of world energy released by British
Petroleum in 2003, the reserves to production ratio of fossil fuels for North America was only of 10
years although they have not yet ran out of fossil fuels and, actually, are currently exporters of natural
gas whereas Europe and Eurasia had a ratio of 57 years.
The price of oil just dropped during the last months due to different reasons such as the increase in
production of the United States, the return of Libya to high production levels, the war price that some
countries at OPEC have had in order to maintain their market share in Asia, among other factors.
Nevertheless, oil prices in the last years have been around $100 per barrel, not to talk about the peak
of $140 during 2008, as can be seen in figure two. Taking into consideration the volatility of the prices
of oil, one would expect the countries not to rely on oil in order to secure the supply of electricity.

Cost per barrel of oil2004 to Nov 2014

Finally, one (if not the most important) factor to be taken into consideration is the impact in the
environment that the usage of dirty sources of energy for electricity generation can cause on the
planet. Dincer and Rosen (1996) estimate the increase in the global temperatures between two and
three degrees for 2100 and the consequences of a warmer world, such as (i) an increase in the sea
level (with its secondary effects), (ii) changes in the hydrological cycle and the ENSO phenomenon
with consequences such as droughts and floods, etc., (iii) the changes in the biodiversity and the
spread of diseases and plagues that usually live just in the tropics, (iv) the negative impact in
agriculture and the effects that this will have on food security, among many others, have been largely
discussed over the past decades and the cost, both in economic terms and in lives, has become more
and more tangible during the last years.

Renewable energies

Definition
We could define renewable energies as those sources that do not depend on a supply of a limited
input such as coal or oil, but rather are rapidly regenerated and use the energy of free sources such
as the sun and the wind. Also, renewable energies have an impact on the environment close to zero,
as there are no greenhouse gases liberated to the atmosphere in the process of exploiting them.

Types of renewable energies

i. Hydro: This is defined as the use of the mechanic force of the water, when falling or
running, to move the turbines in order to produce electricity. This is one of the oldest
renewable ways of producing electricity, but also one of the most used across the world;
actually, according to Herzog et al (2001), more than 150 countries use hydropower to
produce electricity.
Although tidal energy is usually counted as a separate type of energy, as it comes from
the mechanic force of the water bodies, we could classify it also as hydro.
ii. Wind: Just as the hydropower, the mechanic power of the wind has been used by
humans for centuries now, but the popularity of wind power for electricity is rather recent.
Wind power is becoming more and more common thanks to the decrease in cost of the
turbines, mainly due to the increase in the research and development, and the different
companies that are investing in the production of this type of technology. It should be
mentioned that there are two modalities of wind power production, in-land and off-shore,
each one with particularities in terms of technology, cost and production, being the most
common the in-land production.

iii. Solar: Solar power might refer to the photovoltaic or solar thermal technology. Solar
photovoltaic modules convert sunlight directly into electricity, by using semiconducting
materials. In the other hand, solar thermal technology uses the energy of the sun to heat
an intermediary fluid that then generates steam, which moves the turbines (Herzog et
al, 2001).
iv. Geothermal: The principle of the geothermal electricity is to use the heat and/or the
steam that is in the core of the Earth, in order to move the turbines to produce electricity.
Geothermal, just as the other renewable sources has been used for centuries for other
purposes, but until recently for electricity production.
v. Biomass: This is one of the most varied types of energy when it comes to renewables.
We could define biomass power as the usage of the organic materials that are the result
of the biological process of photosynthesis. Biomass, in the field of electricity, is mostly
used by burning organic material to heat an intermediary heat to move a turbine and
then generate electricity. Waste-to-energy can be included in this category and it also
includes the using waste to create gas or biofuels.

Advantages of Renewable energies

First of all, renewable sources are free. No one has to pay for the sun that falls on its land, nor the
water that runs through the rivers. In contrast with fossil fuels, that have a fluctuating price, the
renewable energies dont need any type of input that has to be paid for. In the other hand, renewables
have the particularity that the capital cost is higher, which could make it harder for developing
countries to afford it (Swift-Hook 2013).
Secondly, renewable energies are constant and/or supplementary. Tidal and geothermal energies are
pretty much constant having on a regular basis the mechanic force of the tide and the steam or heat
coming out o the earth. Regarding complementarity, the hydro power complements very well with solar
and wind power in the countries during the different seasons in the year; also, the wind and the sun
complement each other in different countries according to the geographical latitude (or zones), as
presented by Asif and Munner (2007).
Moreover, renewable energies are better distributed across the world than fossil fuels. For example,
according to the statistical review of British Petroleum (2003) the distribution of the oil reserves in the
world were as follows: 2% in Europe, 4% in Asia Pacific, 6% in Former Soviet Union, 6% in North

America, 7% in Africa, 9% in Latin America and 66% in Middle-Eastern countries; situation that has not
changed as 2013 where, according to OPEC (2014), Middle-Eastern countries still have 66% of the
reserves. This uneven distribution might cause tensions and conflicts between needed and rich oil
countries as has been suggested for many political experts in the last years; these conflicts could be
avoided if the energy supply could be secured by cheap, constant, renewable energy sources.
Furthermore, the social benefits of the renewable energies in terms of job creation cannot be
neglected. Even when renewable energies are capital intensive, which makes it hard for developing
countries to afford them, according to the National Renewable Energy Lab (1997), renewable energies
create three times more jobs for each US dollar of investment than the jobs created for the fossil fuels.
Also, usually renewables are developed in rural areas where jobs are scare, therefore, one project
such as a hydro or thermo plant can bring welfare to a, otherwise, economically depressed area,
generating second round effects in the local economy. Additionally, it is common than the firms that are
involved in big energy projects develop different social programs in the community in order to
compensate for the possible impact that the project can have in the area.
On the other hand, some renewable energy production can be done at a small scale, with the
consequences that this has for to the capital and technological challenges that electricity generation
often causes. Across the world, we see more and more programs that have as the main objective
taking small solar plants to the rural areas to produce electricity and bring the habitants of these areas
the benefits and development that comes with access to electricity.
Finally, as it has been broadly discuss, and remarked at the beginning of this paper, renewable
energies have close to zero carbon dioxide emissions, which will help us achieve a reduction on the
greenhouse gases and, therefore, will reduce global warming and its effects on the environment and in
human life.
Nevertheless, we should not overlook at the complications that renewable energies can bring with. As
mentioned before, the price of a windmill, or a hydro plant is rather high, which makes it hard for
developing countries, which are usually capital scare, to develop such projects. In addition, we should
take into consideration the social impact that such projects could have in the local communities.
Although we have said that a renewable energy project creates more jobs in a community in
comparison with fossil fuels, the people that has to be expropriated for the construction of a dam, or
the neighbors of a wind farm that have to deal with the noise and the visual pollution that some of

them could argue, should be taken into consideration, measured and compensated in an adequate
way.

Potential of Renewable energies.

Although there is uncertainty on what the future for renewable energies in the world will be, there is
consensus among the researchers and authors on the fact that the demand of energy of the world can
be fulfilled with renewable sources many times (Asif and Munner, 2007). Nevertheless, the mix of
sources to provide humans with the energy needed to reach a high status of development is not clear,
and experts like Andreas Jess (2010) suggest that the potential of non-solar renewables sources is not
big enough, and that we should focus on solar and/or nuclear energy.

Security of electricity supply in Costa Rica through renewable energies

Background of the electricity situation in Costa Rica

Costa Rica was the third country in Latin America, after Chile and Brazil to have a city lighted with
electricity, inaugurating the public lighting of San Jos (the capital) in 1884, when two entrepreneurs
used a waterfall of 15 meters to produce hydro electricity.

ICE (Costa Rican Electricity Institute).

In the period of 1884 to 1948 there were some other small, hydro plants created by private firms, but
the service provided by those companies was bad; as a consequence, the government created in
1949 the Costa Rican Electricity Institute (ICE, for its initials in Spanish), with the mandate to develop
the sources of energy in the country and to provide with the service to all the population in the country
(ICE, 2014). As 99% of the population in the country has access to electricity, we could say that the
mandate given to the institution years ago, in terms of providing electricity to the population, has been
successfully achieved; nevertheless, there are other sources of electricity in the country that have a
huge potential and that have not been exploited at its full potential.

Different sources of energy used in Costa Rica

Thanks to the geographic and topographic conditions of the country, Costa Rica has been able to
have a very diversified energy matrix that includes a wide range of sources. As can be seen in the
figure number 3, the country has opted to use mostly renewable sources, with 80% of its installed
capacity in clean energies.

10

Installed capacity of electricity generation

Costa Rica, 2013

Oil; 20%
Solar; 0%
Biomass; 2%
Wind; 5%
Geothermal; 7%

Hydro; 66%

But as a country committed with the protection of the environment, the use of thermal plants is left as
a last resort; even when the installed capacity of the country for thermal plants is 20%, during 2013,
just 12% out of the 10,136 GWh produced in the country was produced with oil, as can be seen in
figure 4.

Generation of electricity
Costa Rica, 2013

Biomass; 1%

Oil; 12%

Wind; 5%
Geothermal; 15%
Hydro; 67%

Costa Rica, just as most developing countries, does not have nuclear plants, most likely because of
the cost and the possible risks that this carries. Also, the country does not have yet any tidal energy
projects, but the ICE has already started the evaluation of different places where such plants could be
developed in the future.

11

Central American Electrical Interconnection System

Since the 70s, the idea of a line that connects all Central America to sell and buy electricity was
gestated, and in the late 90s the different congresses of the 6 countries approved the tools and
bodies to make the project a reality. This was finalized last October, when the last part of the line in
Costa Rica started working; nevertheless, even when the line was not finished, the trade of electricity
among the country and its neighbors started since 2012 (EPR, 2014). Actually, for the months of
January, February and March of 2014, Costa Rica imported the 2, 4 and 7 percent of the total demand
of electricity, taking advantage of the low prices relative to the cost of the old, inefficient thermal plants
that were usually used during the dry season to secure the supply of energy (Fornaguera, 2014).

Consequences of the high cost of electricity in Costa Rica

During the year 2014 Costa Rica faced the contraction of one of the biggest and more important
companies in the country: Intel. This firm opened its fist plant in Costa Rica in 1997 and expanded it
through the years to become one of the biggest employers and producers of the country, but last
March the company announced the move of the plant of microprocessors to Asia, which meant the lost
of 1,500 jobs. Moreover, Bank of America, who had a call center and a shared services center in the
country decided to close its operations last April, adding another 400 jobs to the approximately 6,000
total loss of jobs in the country for the last year (Gutirrez, 2014).
Intel officially stated that moving the operations to Asia was part of a strategy to be more efficient, but
some people in the media and in the business community speculated that the high cost of production,
specially electricity, was one of the main causes. Bank of America was much more straight forward
and in the press release they mentioned that the high cost of electricity was one of the main causes to
close operations in the country; Costa Rica, they said, has become less competitive.

But, are the prices of Costa Rica really more expensive than its neighbors? According to the last
comparison available, made by ECLAC (2012), the prices of the electricity in Costa Rica during 2011
were similar to the rest of Central America, which differs with what the chambers and some firms have
said during this year. Nevertheless, when we compared the 34,33 Costa Rican Colones (currency of
Costa Rica) per kwh that the firms paid on 2005 to the 88,98 Costa Rican Colones that they paid
during 2013, it is evident that the cost has increased, even more than proportional to the inflation
(Gonzlez, 2014).

12

Potential of renewable energies in Costa Rica

Costa Rica, as discussed in the section of the sources of energy used for electricity generation, has
exploited in the past different renewable options to secure the supply to its population, relying mostly
on the hydropower and having thermal plants for the shortfalls during the dry season.
Relying on hydropower seems to be the policy of the Costa Rican Electricity Institute for the immediate
future, according to information shared by them in the last conference offered to aid donor
governments and institutions held last August. During this conference, they shared the plans of the
institution for the next five years to increase the installed capacity of the country by 924,4 MV, of which
72% will be hydropower, being the biggest project a plant called Reventazn, with 305 MV. Also, they
will increase the capacity of wind farms by 220 MV and plan to open a new geothermal plant that will
provide 55 MV. Finally, they plan to close one of the less efficient thermal plants that currently has
capacity for 19,5 MV.
For the long term, the institution foresees an increase of 2,300 MV in the next 20 years, compound by
650 MV of a big hydro project, 440 MV out of geothermal plants, 160 MV from efficient thermal plants
and 1,050 MV from different renewable sources that have not yet being identified. This unidentified
sources are most likely to be wind farms that had became very attractive for some private firms, but
some experts also talk about tidal and biomass projects that can grow more and more in the future.

Challenges for the future of clean electricity generation

State owned enterprises in Costa Rica have the monopoly of distribution of electricity in the country,
and have a type of oligopoly on the production, as private firms are allowed to produce just 15% of the
total demand. This creates a disincentive for private enterprises to invest in renewable projects,
meaning than the ICE, specially during the dry season when the shortfalls of energy are more
common, has two different options to secure the supply and avoid blackouts: (i) import electricity from
the neighboring countries as already did at the beginning of this year, or (ii) buy oil to turn on the
thermal (usually inefficient and expensive) plants and produce electricity at high costs, and emit tons
of carbon dioxide to the atmosphere.
Furthermore, the new government of the president Sols Rivera (2014-2018) has just announced that
no more geothermal projects will be developed during his mandate, because they are not necessary.
This decision could be a consequence to the pressure of environmentalist groups that have being
against the exploitation of the geothermal resources in national parks, where a portion of the potential

13

capacity is; but this is totally counterintuitive to the promise made by him at the beginning of his term,
when he stated that he would consider all the options available to reduce the cost of the electricity.
Also, with the decision to stop all the geothermal projects, he will also block the possible projects that
can be developed just outside the national parks.

Advantages of investment in renewable energies in Costa Rica

From environmental to economic and political, the potential gains of renewables for Costa Rica are
very important. In 2021 Costa Rica will celebrate the 200th anniversary of its independency, and the
commitment of the country is to celebrate it by being carbon neutral, a very ambitious goal that will
require many actions, but one of the most important steps on the path to achieve it should be to
produce all the electricity needed with renewable sources. This will help us maintain the credibility that
the country has held for years in the field of environment protection, and will match perfectly with being
the country that has 25% of the total area protected is the home country of 5% of all the species in the
world.
Furthermore, the investment that is needed for the development of renewable energies that usually
goes to rural and underdeveloped areas, will create employment and economic welfare that will help
raise the standards of living in the direct impact areas; in addition, as demonstrated by Swift-Hook
(2013), renewable sources are usually cheaper than generating dirty energy (specially wind), which
will bring down the cost of the electricity and, therefore, will benefit all the users, from the households
to the industries (Swift-Hook, 2013).
Since 1949 Costa Rica has no army and this has helped the country to invest the money that
otherwise would had been invested in guns to education; in fact, the country has the constitutional
mandate to invest 8% of its GDP in education. It would be a real breakthrough if we could also be a
country that starts using the money of imports of oil for electricity generation, to invest it in education
or health.

14

Conclusions and Recommendations

Electricity Security in Costa Rica through renewable energies: Is it

possible?
Because of the importance of the hydropower in the energy matrix of the country, rain is a very
relevant factor for energy security. The lack of rains during the dry season or the low precipitation rate
during the rainy season, which has as a consequence a fail in filling the dam (as has already
happened when the ENSO affects the country), plays a huge role in the energy security of Costa Rica.
But the question is whether or not we should keep on relying on hydropower, or if we should diversify
even more the energy matrix, having different options of renewable energies that we have not
exploit yet such as tidal; or if we should use the options that we have already developed, and that we
have proven to be efficient in, like geothermal and biomass, to produce energy that can complement
hydropower, and provide the electricity that we might lack during the dry months.
Actually, in Costa Rica, the dry season is also the windier season and the months in which the zafra
(name for the sugar cane harvest) takes place, providing the main input that has been used in the
country for biomass electricity generation. Furthermore, some municipalities have explored the option
of waste to energy or incineration of garbage to produce thermal energy as an answer to the growing
problem of waste management in the country and, at the same time, the production of electricity for
the community; although the incineration of waste will emit carbon dioxide to the atmosphere, there
are techniques to reduce the emissions even more than if the waste was just landfilled.

Future of electricity in Costa Rica

As previously discussed, the potential of Costa Rica for renewable energies is enormous. Not only in
hydropower, as the country has developed in the past, but also in wind, biomass and geothermal
power. Hopefully the country, either through the ICE or by providing the legal framework and the
appropriate environment to invest for the private firms, will continue developing new environmental
friendly options for electricity generation that can reduce the shortfalls during the dry season and also
reduce the price for the final consumers.
Moreover, the Costa Rican Electricity Institute should also be encourage to invest in research and
development to lead other types of renewable sources for electricity generation in which it has not
venture yet, in a proactive way, such as tidal, solar and hydrogen.

15

Other measure than the ICE could apply is the purchase of the surplus of the small solar panels that
some households have started to install on the roof of the houses, as a measure to reduce their
electricity bill but also as an action to reduce their carbon footprint. If the Costa Rican Electricity
Institute is able to accept the surplus of this small solar panels in their grid and compensate the
households for it, instead of turning on the expensive, inefficient and pollutant thermal plants during
the dry season, the country be benefited of the previously discussed consequences and will also
incentive more households to invest in small solar panels, that are becoming cheaper and cheaper as
more firms are producing them.

Challenges to overcome.
The hydro plant called El Diqus, with a capacity of 650 MW, located at the south of the country and
expected by the Costa Rican Electricity Institute to begin operations in 2025, is the biggest and more
ambitious project that has been undertaken in the country (and in Central America) in the field of
electricity generation. According to official information given by the Institute, this project will provide
electricity to 1,050,000 clients; taking into consideration that Costa Rica currently has five million
inhabitants, this will secure the supply of cheap and clean electricity to about 20% of the country, and
even if there is a surplus in the country, the electricity could be sold to the neighboring countries
through the SIEPAC. But this project has faced a series of obstacles, mainly the opposition of the
environmentalists that argue that the impact that the dam (of approximately 7,000 hectares) will have
in the native species makes the project unviable. Also, the indigenous populations that live in the area
oppose the project, as they will have to be resettled.
Another challenge that the country will have to overcome is in the area of geothermal electricity
production. Being this one of the most stable options for electricity generation, the sources are usually
in/or close to national parks, and the environmentalists and a part of the society stand against this type
of projects because of the impact that this could bring in the flora and fauna near them. Furthermore,
the president Sols has already stated that during his mandate the exploration of geothermal plants will
not occur. The author, who had the opportunity to visit one of this projects in the north of the country
and compared the environmental reports of the beginning of the project, when the land where the
plant is located was used as a pastureland, and the latest reports, was able to see the positive impact
of the geothermal development on the flora and fauna of the surroundings and the direct impact area.
This has been achieved thanks to the commitment of the ICE with the protection of the environment
and the supervision of the environmental institute of the country.

16

Finally, nowadays the private firms are allowed to supply just 15% of the demand of electricity in the
country and, despite of the fact that an increase in the supply usually brings prices down, and that Mr.
Sols promised that he would evaluate all the different options that could reduce the price of the
electricity, he has already rejected the option of increasing the share of supply from private firms.
Furthermore, the country has failed to provide the municipalities with the legal framework that they
need to start with the systems of waste to energy that could help tackle the problems of waste
management and energy supply at the same time, as some congress members have argue the
possible damages in the environment for the emission of carbon dioxide, without taking into
consideration that there are technologies for carbon capture and storage that will make this option
even more environmental friendly than the current option of treating garbage in landfills.
If Costa Rica wants to continue being an example in environment protection, and achieve its objective
to become a carbon neutral country by 2021, it has to undertake a series of measures that will lead us
to reduce to emissions of greenhouse gases and, leaving apart the issue of transportation, the
electricity generation should be one of the first fronts that should be intervened. The technology is
available, most of the interested parts in the topic have the will to make the project of carbon neutrality
a reality, but it looks like the miscommunication for not saying the mismatch between the personal
agendas between the different people involved, could be a stumbling block in the path for such an
inspiring goal and the energy security that the country needs for continue in the path to development.

17

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