Costa Rica’s Electric Grid: A System Overview and Modeling Parameters for Power and Energy Studies

Costa Rica has been supplying for several years its electric demand with nearly 100% renewable energies, which makes it an attractive case study. A model of its power and energy system can be very useful for discussion, teaching and research. This paper presents a summary of the present-day characteristics of Costa Rica’s energy balance, its power system operation and a statistical study of the parameters from its transmission lines, transformers, shunt capacitor/reactor banks, and generators. This paper can be used as a reference for discussion and to build models for research and policy such as energy planning, power flow, short-circuit and stability.