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Costa Rica Has Run on 100% Renewable Electricity for 299 Days

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Re: Costa Rica Has Run on 100% Renewable Electricity for 299 Days

#101

Post by testfoobar »

berkes wrote: post #60
testfoobar wrote: post #46

This is meaningless on a global scale. Globally, we've added more mega watts of coal power for decades. Doesn't look like it is stopping anytime soon. https://www.carbonbrief.org/mapped-worlds-coal-power-plants

This is not meaningless. It is an important data-point. One that clearly proves it is possible. One that teaches what works and what not. Those data-points are crucial for other countries or political groups to be swayed and convinced. It may be meaningless for global greenhouse-gas emission reduction in itself, true. But for "the movement" it is an important milestone.

Meaningless because the lessons of Costa Rica do not apply in the largest carbon generating economies.

Re: Costa Rica Has Run on 100% Renewable Electricity for 299 Days

#102

Post by ffhhj »

belval wrote: post #3

Is there an easy answer as to why Costa Rica is doing so well? They seem to be a bit of an exception in Central/South America. EDIT: From Wikipedia "It is known for its long-standing and stable democracy, and for its highly educated workforce, most of whom speak English. The country spends roughly 6.9% of its budget (2016) on education, compared to a global average of 4.4%. Its economy, once heavily dependent on agri…

The reason is Costa Rica, while being a colony of Spain, used to trade a lot with UK, specially tobacco. Also had good relations with the US. For that reason it has one of the first electrified cities in the world.

The army was removed before the cold war started, and CR was neutral in the game that USA-USSR played in all Latin America, of placing and destroying governments (Iran-Contra, CIA drugs, Noriega, etc). Also the savings are transferred to education and infrastructure.

The lands in CR aren't as fertile as the rest of Central America, but it has plenty of water from the mountain ranges. It can sell hydro-power to its neighbors. Also the geography detour hurricanes which means more savings from reconstruction.

Intel factory was established with the help of national electronic engineers who studied their careers in Germany.

Re: Costa Rica Has Run on 100% Renewable Electricity for 299 Days

#103

Post by jacquesm »

mavhc wrote: post #69
jeffbee wrote: post #41

Earlier quoted context omitted.

"Massive" Honsdale battery is capable of supplying much less than 1% of grid power in Australia. An installation of that size could help at the margins to prevent some brownout events, but don't overestimate the capacity of batteries compared to grid demand. It looks like Costa Rica has about 3600 MW of generating capacity. The Hornsdale battery is good for 150 MW.

Would be good for those 5 second brownouts though

Flywheels are a pretty good solution for ride-through of brownouts. Fairly compact and instantly available.

Re: Costa Rica Has Run on 100% Renewable Electricity for 299 Days

#104

Post by AdamJacobMuller »

toomuchtodo wrote: post #36
JohnHaugeland wrote: post #20

Earlier quoted context omitted.

it's a complete fiction, if you bother to look

https://www.electricitymap.org/zone/CR?wind=false&solar=fals... (Electricitymap.org: Costa Rica) 2.36GW of total hydro generating capacity, 595MW of wind, and 1.64GW of geothermal, as well as interconnectors with Panama and Nicaragua to export excess renewables generation (or import when in nation generation isn't meeting consumption). With CR's favorable geography for hydro, it'd make a lot of sense for central amer…

> import when in nation generation isn't meeting consumption

When people say "it's fiction" I think this is a lot of what they mean. If a location is net 100% renewable, say, someone who is 100% solar, so they generate lots of excess in the daytime, but, consume lots on cloudy days and at night and we assume that imported power is very dirty, they might be a net 100% renewable but ultimately they are consuming polluting power. I suspect, with tons of Hydro/Geothermal (which are very on-demand/stable sources) the gross amount of power that costa rica imports is actually quite low and they are actually doing very well (especially compared to others who are "net 100% renewable"), but, I would love to see that figure (gross import %) represented when people talk about being net 100% renewable. Net 100% renewable with 1% gross imports is far more impressive and sustainable than net 100% renewable with 25% gross imports.

Re: Costa Rica Has Run on 100% Renewable Electricity for 299 Days

#105

Post by api »

wwweston wrote: post #48
belval wrote: post #3

Is there an easy answer as to why Costa Rica is doing so well? They seem to be a bit of an exception in Central/South America. EDIT: From Wikipedia "It is known for its long-standing and stable democracy, and for its highly educated workforce, most of whom speak English. The country spends roughly 6.9% of its budget (2016) on education, compared to a global average of 4.4%. Its economy, once heavily dependent on agri…

IIRC part of the answer is that they had a successful revolution led by principled people who realized that cultural capital is just as important as power and in fact maybe keeping a standing army had problems. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jos%C3%A9_Figueres_Ferrer https://www.spanishpuravida.com/why-costa-rica-has-no-army/

A standing army creates a ton of problems, but what happens if nobody has a standing army? Seems like someone has to play cop and eat the cost (both social and economic) of doing so.

Re: Costa Rica Has Run on 100% Renewable Electricity for 299 Days

#106

Post by greenonions »

DennisP wrote: post #61

We really need two words for renewables: one for types that scale but don't provide power on demand (wind, solar), and the other for types that provide power on demand but aren't available at scale everywhere (hydro, geothermal). Costa Rica is blessed with plenty of the second type and uses it. Because we lump it all into "renewables," it sounds like it should be easy for everyone to follow their example, and that's…

My state, Iowa, was 60% renewable over the last year. This is almost entirely from wind as Iowa is probably among the flattest US states.

Re: Costa Rica Has Run on 100% Renewable Electricity for 299 Days

#107

Post by toomuchtodo »

AdamJacobMuller wrote: post #104
toomuchtodo wrote: post #36

Earlier quoted context omitted.

https://www.electricitymap.org/zone/CR?wind=false&solar=fals... (Electricitymap.org: Costa Rica) 2.36GW of total hydro generating capacity, 595MW of wind, and 1.64GW of geothermal, as well as interconnectors with Panama and Nicaragua to export excess renewables generation (or import when in nation generation isn't meeting consumption). With CR's favorable geography for hydro, it'd make a lot of sense for central amer…

> import when in nation generation isn't meeting consumption When people say "it's fiction" I think this is a lot of what they mean. If a location is net 100% renewable, say, someone who is 100% solar, so they generate lots of excess in the daytime, but, consume lots on cloudy days and at night and we assume that imported power is very dirty, they might be a net 100% renewable but ultimately they are consuming pollut…

As with everything, there is nuance. Good points. I think we're simply arguing over the amount of pessimism/optimism as the global energy transformation continues.

Re: Costa Rica Has Run on 100% Renewable Electricity for 299 Days

#108

Post by fasteddie31003 »

tohmasu wrote: post #80

70-80% Hydro [~90% Hydro+Geothermal]. ~10% wind and almost no PV. It's important to keep in mind that wind and solar aren't really a part of this success story.

California does not consider hydro to be renewable, so according to California law Costa Rica has not been running on renewable energy. This is to point out California needs to redefine hydro into a renewable resource.

Re: Costa Rica Has Run on 100% Renewable Electricity for 299 Days

#109

Post by advisedwang »

Pick-A-Hill2019 wrote: post #91

I'm confused.. the Article opens with an Update that I'm struggling to parse.. They seem to be saying that a better title would have been xyz (i.e the same but dropping the 299 Days claim?) Appologies if this has already been asked & answered - a quick skim didn't show anything related to the "why?"

The difference in the update is "Renewable Energy" originally vs "Renewable Electricity" now, because this only applies to the Electrical grid and not other energy used by Costa Rica (ie transport)

Re: Costa Rica Has Run on 100% Renewable Electricity for 299 Days

#110

Post by mikro2nd »

api wrote: post #105
wwweston wrote: post #48

Earlier quoted context omitted.

IIRC part of the answer is that they had a successful revolution led by principled people who realized that cultural capital is just as important as power and in fact maybe keeping a standing army had problems. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Jos%C3%A9_Figueres_Ferrer https://www.spanishpuravida.com/why-costa-rica-has-no-army/

A standing army creates a ton of problems, but what happens if nobody has a standing army? Seems like someone has to play cop and eat the cost (both social and economic) of doing so.

I think that, "what happens if nobody has a standing army?" is an interesting question. What I don't understand is why you think that "someone has to play cop"...?
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