Tiny Costa Rica has done something really big: It's managed to meet 100 percent of its power needs with renewable energy for 75 consecutive days, and it's doing this by using hydropower and geothermal energy, the state-owned Electricity Institute said.

 

Of course, the country was off to a good start due to plentiful rains at four of its main hydroelectric plants, the Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad (ICE) noted, RenewEconomy reports. Figures compiled by the National Electric System showed that it hadn't been necessary to use hydrocarbons to supply the country's grid in January, February, and March (so far).

 

It helps that Costa Rica has an excellent record in providing efficient, clean energy generation that's cheap and the country ranks second in Latin America for providing coverage to 99.4 percent of its households at some of the lowest prices in the region, RenewEconomy reports.

 

The Transnational Institute reports that 250kWh (kilowatt-hour) would be enough to take care of the monthly needs of low income and middle income Costa Rican households, and it would only cost around seven percent of the minimum salary, RenewEconomy reports.

 

Costa Rica also does well in regards to renewables, generating as much as 80 percent of its electricity from hydropower as of last year, although a spate of recent droughts led to diesel fuel being used as a backup.

 

As a country rich with volcanoes, geothermal projects are on the way to make the best of this subterranean energy source, Science Alert reports.

 

The Costa Rican government approved a $958 million geothermal energy project and "the first plants are expected to generate about 55 MW (megawatts) and cost approximately $333 million to build," said Jake Richardson from Clean Technica. Two other 50 MW plants will also be built nearby.

 

 

PHOTO: San Jose's international airport has been forced to close and several villages have been evacuated after clouds of ash from the newly active Turrialba volcano, shown here, reached the Costa Rican capital.

CREDIT: Ezequiel Becerra, AFP/File.