This week, the state electricity agency of Costa Rica issued an alert that the Central American country had not registered since 2007, confirming the insufficiency of electrical energy and the probability of executing cuts in the service in the coming days. The lack of rain due to the “extreme” effects of the El Niño phenomenon in 2023, the lack of reserve sources and an unforeseen increase in energy consumption forced the authorities to activate the protocol due to the concern of business groups and the population accustomed to a stable electrical service.
The Costa Rican Electricity Institute (ICE), an entity that has a monopoly on electricity distribution in the country, reported on Monday that only the arrival of the rainy season this week could avoid the rationing protocol. Hydroelectric sources, which provide almost 70% of a matrix praised for its renewable nature, are at minimum levels and in a few days they could run out of reserves, with no possibility for authorities to buy energy from their Central American neighbors because the rainfall deficit has hit throughout the region and countries have restricted exports. President Rodrigo Chaves said this Wednesday that he prays for at least one downpour every day and that he speaks with other regional leaders to try to buy energy from them, but the shortage is general.
“The room for maneuver is very limited,” Roberto Quirós, manager of the Electricity department at ICE, told EL PAÍS, acknowledging that they monitor meteorological factors every day waiting for rain or an increase in wind, which has been erratic. and has caused the fall of generation with wind sources. In the Caribbean region the rains almost did not appear in the last season, in the basin of the largest reservoir in the country (Arenal, northern zone) the reduction in January was 53% year-on-year and in a nearby basin called Toro the decrease was 78% above average, he reported.
Added to the “critical” rainfall deficit is the decision by ICE in August 2022 to withdraw the operation of hydrocarbon sources to try to fulfill the political promise of lowering rates for users, as well as the failure with some purchase contracts signed in 2023. by the institution.
In parallel, the country is experiencing a 9% increase in energy consumption that was surprising to the authorities, Quirós acknowledged: “That could not be seen in any planning scenario.” The increase is mainly due to the increase in the use of air conditioning equipment in coastal areas with high tourist visitation, due to higher temperatures also attributed to El Niño, he explained. Also, however, there is economic pressure due to the strong policy of attracting foreign high-tech companies, intensive in electricity consumption. “That’s why we’re running so fast,” said the manager, while mentioning recently announced solar projects that could supply 27,000 homes, but not immediately.
Quirós criticized decisions by previous administrations to suspend the development of electricity generation projects at times of excess installed capacity and admitted that the El Niño phenomenon was foreseeable due to the climate cycle, regardless of its severity. The current Government also reported that it decided to get rid of the production of thermal plants in recent months, in line with the desire to maintain an almost entirely clean generation matrix, an environmental achievement that some more pragmatic sectors describe as an ideological absurdity. There are also private hydroelectric plants that are inactive due to lack of contract with ICE, denounced the Costa Rican Union of Chambers and Associations of Private Enterprise (Uccaep), the largest employer association in the country.
Rationing could be up to three hours between Monday and Friday, if it doesn’t rain already, Quirós said. They could even start this Friday, the Public Services Regulatory Authority (Aresep) warned the press. The alert, which comes at a time when the Government of Rodrigo Chaves celebrates its second anniversary, causes concern in the business sector and annoyance in the general population, although ICE reports that there will be no suspension of service in the industrial sector, hospitals nor high voltage clients.
“It is true that the climate has changed, but they are supposed to know how to handle this. Now we are going to pay the consequences,” laments Ileana BR, a financial analyst who works online from home to take care of household chores and take care of her two children. “I know that in other countries they experience this more often, but here we are not used to it and it is a problem.” A brother went at night to buy a gas stencil and she was thinking about doing it too, she said while opening the kitchen window to look at the sky and give her report on the weather in the east of the city of San José: “It’s like cloudy and it seems like it will rain today, but that’s how it has been in the last few days and nothing at all. Maybe tomorrow, but we don’t know.”
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