Costa Rica’s wind capacity climbs to 407.8 MW

January 17 (Renewables Now) – Costa Rican power utility Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad (ICE) said Wednesday that the country’s national electric system has reached 407.77 MW of installed wind capacity, working its way up from the 66.67 MW that were operational 10 years ago.

The ICE figures include the capacity of the 21-MW Cacao Wind Power Plant installed in the Guanacaste province and inaugurated on January 10.

The Guanacaste province is also home to 16 of Costa Rica’s 18 wind power plants.

The ICE said that wind parks accounted for more than 11.5% of the country’s electricity mix, becoming the second source of production behind hydropower.

The ICE itself operates the Tejona wind farm, San Jose-based electric utility company Compania Nacional de Fuerza y Luz (CNFL) controls the Valle Central plant as of 2012, while the rest of the country’s wind installations are run by private and rural utility cooperatives.

In 2018, the national electricity system produced 1,799 GWh from wind, up by more than 15% in annual terms, the ICE said.

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