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they're tiny, non-industrial, and they don't track brownouts
I live part-time in Costa Rica. Brownouts occur 1-4x every day. It’s usually just a few seconds and not all that bad. The worst part is when you have to restart the dishwasher.
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they're tiny, non-industrial, and they don't track brownouts
I live part-time in Costa Rica. Brownouts occur 1-4x every day. It’s usually just a few seconds and not all that bad. The worst part is when you have to restart the dishwasher.
> Because of that, the country has an abundance of geothermal renewable sources that account for much of the necessary energy to make the country successfully function. >Also, Costa Rica can get a lot of rain. With consistent rainfall, their hydroelectric plants can produce a plethora of energy. While wind and solar get most of the headlines, it seems that geothermal and hydroelectric are actually more useful in goin…
Quebec gets most of its eletric power from hydroelectric sources (95%), while Ontario gets >60% from nuclear and 26% from hydroelectric. It's wild to compare the breakdown compared to western, oil-rich provinces which are basically 50-50 natural gas and coal-powered. It's also depressing to see how electricity is a distant third to gas and other petroleum products in terms of energy demand - even though the eletric s…
I can confirm that we have no brown-outs. Also - We have a mix of very cold and warm weather, so are consuming lots of energy for heating in winter. - Hydro-Quebec, state-owned utility has a stellar record for maintenance, coverage and capacity management. It also send money back to the gov to support social programs. - Even with all that our electriciyy cost for consumers,,entre rpsies, and industrial is one of the lowest in the world.
https://www.cer-rec.gc.ca/en/data-analysis/energy-commoditie...
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they're tiny, non-industrial, and they don't track brownouts
I live part-time in Costa Rica. Brownouts occur 1-4x every day. It’s usually just a few seconds and not all that bad. The worst part is when you have to restart the dishwasher.
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Mix of a country well suited for hydropower (+geothermal) and political will. It's obviously easier for a country with lots of hydropower to go 100% renewable, as you have a potentially flexible source that not everyone has.
it's a complete fiction, if you bother to look
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 america to more tightly integrate their electrical grid, similar to how Tasmania's hydro capacity in Australia is used as a "big battery" for the rest of the NEM (eastern AUS electrical grid). In the above link I provide, the interconnectors are shown with real time usage data below generator capacity for each country/grid.
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…
Mix of a country well suited for hydropower (+geothermal) and political will. It's obviously easier for a country with lots of hydropower to go 100% renewable, as you have a potentially flexible source that not everyone has.
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Costa Rica is a small nation with favorable geography, a great balance of population and density with some fantastic externalities that let them focus on domestic affairs.
Also, while its nice, its not especially wealthy, nor situated in a way to become an important geopolitical chess-piece.
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Lots of wind and hydro. Plus they use 1/6th energy of us. Edit: why the downvotes? Just because I mentioned they use way less power than the US?
Hydro is a huge part of it. The amount of water flowing from the mountains to the ocean is almost incomprehensible for a Coloradan like me.