Costa Rica receives $250 million loan for improving electricity supply

The Inter-American Development Bank (IDB) approved a $250 million loan to help Costa Rica meet its growing electricity demand.

Costa Rica’s electricity capacity in 2011 was 2,650 MW, 77 percent of which was from renewable sources. Although the present installed capacity meets current demands, the country’s electric energy expansion plan foresees 5.1 percent average annual increases in demand.

The plan proposes to meet these increases between 2012 and 2024 by adding 1,714 MW of installed capacity, 98 percent of which will be from renewable sources.

Nearly $98 million of the bank’s loan will co-finance the Reventazón Hydroelectric Project (PHR), expected to go online in 2016. The PHR will have an installed capacity of 305 MW, including a 13.5 MW mini-generating plant at the base of the dam, and an annual production of 1,407 GWh.

The program will help to improve the quality of energy supplied throughout the country’s distribution system, electricity coverage in rural areas and efficiency in consumption.