Costa Rica plans to double wind energy

Costa Rica will double its installed wind power capacity to 393 MW from 194 MW until 2017, increasing the share of wind energy to 10.5% from 7%, state-run utility Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad (ICE) said.

The additional capacity includes Tila Wind, a 20-MW wind farm due to start operations in the next days, and eight other wind farms.

Excluding Tila Wind, the country has installed eight wind farms until now, most of which are private, while three are owned by ICE and power distributors Compania Nacional de Fuerza y Luz SA (CNFL) and CoopeSantos RL, respectively.

Nearly all plants are located in the province of Guanacaste.

Wind energy supports Costa Rica’s power supply between December and March when water levels and hydropower output usually decrease, Javier Orozco from the utility said in the press release.

Costa Rica generated all of its electricity from renewable sources in the first 75 days of 2015 thanks to rainfalls, according to data from the National Electricity System (SEN).