Off the wire
• Russia, Belarus to settle gas dispute in 10 days: Putin  • 1st LD: Trump offers full support to Putin in responding to St. Petersburg attack  • Fiji's suicide rate alarming: police  • China demand driving rise in New Zealand primary exports  • S.Korea's headline inflation hits 5-year high on expensive food, energy  • Spotlight: Japanese education ministry's warped ideological path threatens minds of future generations  • Australian gov't announces crackdown on foreign bribery  • Business confidence in New Zealand economy down: survey  • Commentary: Xi's visit to draw blueprint for China-Finland partnership  • Tokyo stocks retreat in morning as Russia attack triggers risk off mood  
You are here: 　 Home

Costa Rica generates 99 pct of electricity from clean sources in first quarter

Xinhua, April 4, 2017 Adjust font size:

About 99.06 percent of electrical production in Costa Rica in the first three months of 2017 came from renewable energy sources, the Costa Rican Institute of Electricity (ICE) said on Monday.

The ICE data showed that the use of renewable energy sources remained steady from 2015 to 2016, which accounted for over 98 percent of electrical production in the country.

In the first three months of 2017, Costa Rica generated 2,744.41 gigawatts of electricity, with 69.3 percent coming from hydroelectricity, 16.2 percent from wind, 11.2 percent from geothermal, 2.2 percent from biomass and 0.16 percent from solar.

The use of biomass was attributed to the sugarcane harvest in the first quarter. The organic residue from sugarcane is used as a fuel to generate electricity.

However, hydroelectricity diminished its share, due to the low water level of certain rivers, affecting hydro-electric plants without reservoirs.

"For April, the ICE expects a major fall in the water levels of rivers which feed hydro-electric plants without reservoirs. They will be supported at first with the energy stored in large reservoirs, and if necessary, with thermal generation," said the ICE in a statement. Endi