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Costa Rica

With a cumulative score of 1.68, Costa Rica ranks number 29 among emerging markets and number 57 in the global ranking.

  • Emerging markets
  • Americas

1.83 / 5

Power score


1.34 / 5

Transport score


 

Buildings score


Only 56 markets (28 emerging markets) are scored on the Buildings sector. See the full list on the methodology page.


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Low-carbon strategy

Net-zero goal and strategy

Costa Rica submitted a National Decarbonization Plan to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in December 2019. This lays out a commitment to become a decarbonized economy with net-zero emissions by 2050.

Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC)

The country also submitted an updated Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) – its plan to help achieve the goals of the Paris Agreement – to the UNFCCC in December 2020. This includes an aim to limit net emissions in 2030 to around 9.1 million tons of CO2 equivalent (MtCO2e), and for maximum net emissions across 2021-2030 to be about 107MtCO2e.

Fossil fuel phase-out policy

Costa Rica generates more than 99% of its electricity from renewables and is looking to boost this to 100% by 2030. This implies that its oil-fired power plants will be phased out by the end of the decade.

Power

Power policy

Costa Rica’s net-zero strategy was a pioneer in the Latin America region with its ambition to reach 100% renewable power by 2030. The country is already close to reaching this goal as 99.9% of the country’s electricity generation came from clean sources, including large hydro, in 2021. Hydropower is Costa Rica’s dominant source of capacity, at 2,379 megawatts (MW), and accounted for 71% of generation in 2021. More small hydro capacity was added last year than any other technology, with 48MW brought online. Small hydro accounted for 18% of Costa Rica’s total capacity in 2021.

Costa Rica does not need an auction policy since there is an oversupply of renewable energy. However, it was one of the first countries in Latin America to implement a net metering program. When solar producers generate more electricity than they use, they can deposit the unconsumed energy in the distribution network and withdraw up to 49% of it back in an annual period.

In 2010, the country established an import-tax exemption for equipment and materials brought in to support renewable energy development. In mid-2021, a law was being discussed that envisioned the sale of surplus electricity surplus to third parties, more tax exemptions for those with distributed renewable generation systems for self-consumption, and the possibility to generate electricity in one place and use it in another. However, this was not approved.

Power policies

Renewable energy auction
Feed-in Tariff
Import tax incentives
Net Metering
Renewable energy target
VAT incentives

Power prices and costs

Power prices in Costa Rica rose in 2016 due to heavy use of diesel-fired generation to satisfy a jump in electricity demand. While prices fell in 2017, they then trended upwards through 2020, before dropping considerably by an average of 22% in 2021.

Commercial and industrial rates declined significantly in 2021, by 15% to $162 per megawatt-hour (MWh) and 17% to $171/MWh, respectively. The change in residential prices was much more muted, with just a 5% decrease to $152/MWh. Residential customers have different tariffs according to the period of the day – the peak period, valley period or night period.

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Power market

The power market in Costa Rica is regulated and dominated by vertically integrated Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad (ICE). The state-owned utility is the country’s major generator and sole power purchaser. However, the Costa Rican market does allow private participation in the form of cooperatives and independent power producers. These entities can be involved with generation and distribution in some parts of the country, although in 2020, ICE and its subsidiary CNFL generated 70% of total electricity produced.

Costa Rica attracted $2 billion in new-build clean energy investment over 2010-2021. Over a third of that capital, or $0.82 billion, was directed to small hydro plants, followed by $0.5 billion for geothermal and $0.6 billion for wind. Investment peaked in 2014, with almost $0.6 billion spent on these three technologies in that year. But this halved in 2017 and was even smaller in subsequent years. In 2021, Costa Rica attracted just $3 million to its clean power sector.

Installed Capacity (in MW)

2012201420162018202001K2K3K4K MW

Electricity Generation (in GWh)

2012201420162018202002K4K6K8K10K12K GWh
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Utility privatisation

Which segments of the power sector are open to private participation?


Generation
Transmission
Retail

Wholesale power market

Does the country have a wholesale power market?


Available
Not available

Doing business and barriers

Costa Rica’s government has demonstrated strong commitment to clean energy and climate-related incentives. However, high hydro penetration and slow demand growth have curtailed opportunities for new entrants. With around 70% of the country’s power typically coming from hydro, the need to add other clean generation to achieve the national 100% renewable energy goal is limited.

Law 51, which came in force in 2016, authorized power purchase agreements for up to 20 years. However, private companies that develop renewable energy projects are not allowed to build power plants larger than 50MW, limiting the competition between private and public projects. In addition, due to the low electricity demand caused by the Covid-19 pandemic, ICE is not renewing contracts to buy power generated from other players once the power it produces is already sufficient to supply electricity to all. Because of this, several power plants are being decommissioned.

Currency of PPAs

Are PPAs (eg. corporate PPAs and all other types) signed in or indexed to U.S. Dollars or Euro?


Available
Not available

Bilateral power contracts

Can a C&I (Commercial and Industrial) customer sign a long-term contract (PPA) for clean energy?


Available
Not available

Fossil fuel price distortions - Subsidies

Does the government influence the wholesale price of fossil fuel (used by thermal power plants) down through subsidies?


Available
Not available

Fossil fuel price distortions - Taxes

Does the government influence the wholesale price of fossil fuel (used by thermal power plants) up through taxes or carbon prices?


Available
Not available

Transport

EV market

The electric vehicle (EV) market in Costa Rica is still relatively small. EVs represented around 3% of the country’s total passenger vehicle sales in 2021, comprising 1,045 battery-electric cars and 89 plug-in hybrids. The market is slowly growing, with the first EV having been introduced in 2015 and annual sales increasing by 2% on average.

EV policy

Costa Rica’s National Decarbonization Plan is aiming for 25% of the country’s light-duty vehicle fleet to be electric by 2035. It is targeting 100% of light-duty vehicle sales to be zero-emission models by 2050 at the latest.

The government has created incentives to purchase EVs, either used or new. These include exemption from value-added tax, import tax, vehicle ownership tax, toll fees and parking levies in designated areas. EVs are also excepted from peak traffic restrictions, such as the limitations on the movement of certain license plate end numbers.

In terms of public transport, Costa Rica is looking for 70% of buses and taxis to be zero-emission vehicles by 2035, rising to 100% in 2050.

Transport policies

Electric vehicle target
Electric vehicle purchase grant or loan incentive
VAT incentives for EV
Import tax incentives for EV
EV charging infrastructure target
EV charging infrastructure support

Fuel economy standards

Does the country have a fuel economy standard in place?


Available
Not available

Buildings

Buildings market

Costa Rica’s tropical climate means the focus is on cooling rather than heating and how to improve the energy efficiency and carbon intensity of these efforts.

Energy efficiency policy

Does the country have a national energy efficiency plan?


Available
Not available

Energy efficiency policy

Are there minimum energy performance standards for buildings?


Available
Not available

Energy efficiency incentives

Is there access to loans or grants for energy efficiency measures (i.e. Wall or loft insulation or double glazing)?


Available
Not available

Buildings policy

The country’s National Decarbonization Plan aims to achieve three targets across the buildings sector: a 10% increase in the use of wood, bamboo and other local materials in buildings 2025; all new buildings being designed and built will adopt low-emission and resilience systems and technologies under bioclimatic parameters by 2030; and 50% of commercial, residential and institutional buildings will operate under emission standards by 2050, such as high electrification and the use of renewable energy for water heating by 2050.

Buildings policies

Low-carbon heat target/roadmap
Tax credits
Boiler scrappage schemes
Heat pumps purchase grants/loans incentive
Ban on boilers: new build homes
Ban on boilers: all homes

Additional insights
from BNEF

Explore more detailed information on global commodity markets and the disruptive technologies driving the transition to a low-carbon economy.

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