The summer conditions greatly increase the demand for water in the country, but so far, according to information from the National Energy Control Center (CENCE) of the Costa Rican Electricity Institute (ICE), this doesn’t have a negative impact on the five reservoirs that supply 40% of the power in Costa Rica.
Despite the fact that reservoirs Angostura, Arenal, Cachí, Pirrís and Reventazón are reaching the estimated levels, they are in optimal conditions to guarantee the electrical production.
In this regard, Luis Pacheco, Electricity Manager of ICE, said that wind production has fallen in recent days.t
Pacheco explained that the country’s more than 300 megawatts of wind power facilities only supplied 2% of the total production on Wednesday, when in previous days they had exceeded 20%.
Consequently, the ICE has recently resorted to the strong energy support provided by thermal plants, as well as to imports from the Regional Electricity Market (MER).
Pacheco said that ICE applies the energy efficiency optimization of the National Electrical System (SEN), which define the periods of water storage in large reservoirs, to reduce operational cost by minimizing the use of thermal plants as backup.
ICE data indicate that the Arenal reservoir feeds three cascading plants (Arenal, Dengo and Sandillal), as well as the Arenal-Tempisque irrigation district.
The official added that this is the only one in the country that allows storing one year of water to use it the following year, which guarantees energy supply during the dry season.