Record broken. In 2015, Costa Rica ran on energy from renewable sources alone for 299 days, and in 2016 for 271; this year it has achieved a new record with six weeks to spare: 300 days.

The announcement was made by the Centro Nacional de Control de Energía and the Instituto costarricense de electricidad (Ice), the public body that manages the national grid, which explains that not a single drop of fuel has been used for energy production in the country since 1 May.

300 days of renewable energy

This particularly fortunate year has seen all records broken, with renewable energy production reaching its highest level since 1987. So far, Costa Rica's energy mix is composed of 78.26 per cent hydroelectric power. This is followed by wind at 10.29 per cent, geothermal (10.23 per cent), solar and biomass (0.84 per cent). The remaining 0.38 per cent came, at the start of the year, from thermoelectric plants powered by fossil fuels, which have remained idle for precisely 300 days.

For years, the Central American country has produced the majority of its energy using water — that is, hydroelectric power — as its energy source. But this year it appears that wind power has seen the greatest growth, with an output of 1,014.82 GWh from 16 wind farms.

Costa Rica carbon neutral by 2021

Costa Rica is perhaps one of the countries most committed to decarbonising its economy, to the extent that it has set itself the goal of becoming carbon neutral by 2021. It should be noted, however, that the country's installed capacity is "only" 3.1 GW. Compared to Italy, which has a gross installed capacity of 117 GW, the gap between the two energy systems is clearly enormous. And consequently, reaching the milestone of 100 per cent output from renewable sources has been more straightforward to achieve. The fact remains that a small Central American state continues to be an example of how the energy transition is not mere utopia.