Costa Rica has been running on renewable energy for two months

Pirris Hydro Dam, Tarrazu, near Quepos port, Costa Rica
Pirris Hydro Dam, Tarrazu, near Quepos port, Costa Rica

Costa Rica ran on 100 percent renewable energy for 76 straight days between June and August this year.

This is the second time in two years the Central American country has run for more than two months straight on renewables alone, and it brings the 2016 total to 150 days and counting.

According to Costa Rica’s National Centre for Energy Control (CENCE), June 16 was the last day this year fossil fuels-based energy was used by the national grid. Since then, the country has been powered on a mix of hydro, geothermal, wind, and solar energy, with hydro power providing about 80.27 per cent of the total electricity in the month of August.

Geothermal plants contributed roughly 12.62 per cent of electricity generation in August, while wind turbines provided 7.1 per cent, and solar 0.01 per cent.

Like last year, when Costa Rica managed to power itself for a total of 299 days without burning oil, coal, or natural gas, 2016’s milestone was helped along by heavy rainfalls at the country’s four hydroelectric power facilities.

A massive hydroelectric project called Reventazón, run by the Costa Rica Electricity Institute (ICE), will come online later this month, after six years of construction. The dam’s five turbines will have a generation capacity of 305.5MW, enough to power around 525,000 homes.

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