Harvard Kennedy School DPI-659 - Media, Politics and Power in the Digital Age

Prof. Nicco Mele

Final Deliverable: CONTRIBUTION TO A WIKIPEDIA ARTICLE:

“Renewable Energy in Costa Rica”

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Renewable_energy_in_Costa_Rica

(Total contribution: 3,123 words / 35,617 bytes)

Carlos Alvarado Briceño HID: 61238271

December 14, 2016

Energy consumption in Costa Rica

The commercial consumption of energy in Costa Rica has tripled from 1980 to 20091. The

electricity consumption has increased by 4.2 times due to a high level of electrification. According

with the World Bank, 99.5%2 of the country’s population has access to electricity. Meanwhile,

fossil fuel’s consumption has increased by 2.4 times, caused by a significant growing of the

number of vehicles.

The average yearly growing of hydrocarbons consumption in the last 20 years has been about 4.7%

and electricity of 5.3%. At this rate, demand of electricity will double in 13 years and hydrocarbons

in 15 years. The dependency of Costa Rica for fossil fuels reached in 2009 the 64% of commercial

energy while electricity 22%. The rest of the basket consumption is completed by biomass (12%)

and other energy products (2%). According with the World Bank, as of 2013, the energy use per

capita of Costa Rica was 1029 kg of oil equivalent3 and the electric power consumption per capita

1955 kWh4.

1 Ministry of Environment and Energy of Costa Rica: “Costa Rica: Sector Energía” (minae.go.cr), 2016 Link: http://bit.ly/2gJRy7T 2 World Development Indicators: “Electricity production, sources, and access” (Table 3.7), The World Bank. Link: http://bit.ly/2gYR8bo 3 World Development Indicators: “Energy production and use” (Table 3.6). The World Bank. Link: http://bit.ly/2gGUfbX 4 World Development Indicators: “Power and communications” (Table 5.11). The World Bank. Link: http://bit.ly/2gzewLr

Wind Energy:

Costa Rica finished 2015 with 59 MW more of power generation in wind energy, after the

inauguration of the Orosi plant (50 MW) in October and “Vientos del Oeste” project (9 MW). As

such, the wind power total capacity in the country is planned to grow from 194 MW in 2015 to

393 MW by 2017, an increase that would represent approximately 10,5% of total electricity

production5.

Between 1996 and 1999 the first three wind power private plants began operation and in 2002

Tejona plant, built by the [[Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad]]. Later, it was opened the

Guanacaste plant (private 2009), Los Santos plant (built by the public cooperative Coopesantos in

2011 in the heart of “Los Santos” region, in [[San José]]), the “Valle Central” plant (built by the

Compañía Nacional de Fuerza y Luz, or CNFL, a Grupo ICE subsidiary in 2011) and “Chiripa”

(private, 2015).

In addition, it is planned the construction of five private plants during 2016 (Altamira, Campos

Azules, Mogote, Vientos de la Perla y Vientos de Miramar), as well as another by the Compañía

Nacional de Fuerza y Luz on 2017 (Ventus Project).

5 REVE (Revista Eólica y del Vehículo Eléctrico), “Costa Rica suma más eólica”, evwind.com, November 17 2016. Link: http://bit.ly/2hDExy4

Solar power

Despite the country has a privileged position near the equator that, combined with the sunny

weather during the year, made a solar power potential of more than 144 million MWh/year6, [[solar

energy]] in Costa Rica is in its early stages, and is even falling shorter than the rest of its Central

American neighbors. According with a [[Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad]] (ICE) study in

2006, the national photovoltaic potential of electric generation for the projected population for

2015 is 222,000 MWh/year7.

In 2012, [[Costa Rica]] inaugurated the Miravalles Solar Plant on the hillside of the Miravalles

Volcano. That time, it was the first of its kind in Costa Rica and the largest solar project in Central

America8. It was built with the help of the Japanese International Cooperation Agency (JICA). The

project’s totaling was $11.5 million ($10 million from JICA and $1.5 million from ICE)9. This

plant of 1MW only represents 0.03% of all the capacity installed in the country of 2872 MW.

6 Data from Open Energy Information “Costa Rica: Energy Resources”, (en.openei.org). Link: http://bit.ly/2hvd92q 7 Wright, Jaime, "Estudio del potencial solar en Costa Rica”, Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad, page 62, Table 9. November, 2006. Link: http://bit.ly/2hDvA85 8The coming of Solar Energy to Costa Rica (TheCostaRicaNews.com) Link: http://bit.ly/2gJO9Wo 9 Adam Dolezal et al: The Way Forward for Renewable Energy in Central America, World Watch Institute, page 28, June 2013. Link: http://bit.ly/2hM13B4

In 2013, [[China]] and [[Costa Rica]] signed agreements of USD $30 million for financing the

installation of 50 thousand solar panels, including a power plant of 10 MW10. In addition, in 2014,

ICE announced a pilot program for solar energy use in housing that aimed to reach 600,000

clients11., but in 2015, the institution ended the plan arguing that the maximum capacity was

already reached, rising criticism from the solar energy distributed generation sector12. According

with ACESOLAR, more than 1000 jobs were in risk for such decision.

Differences of bureaucracy procedures and technical aspects related to the official national norm

“Planeación, Operación y Acceso al Sistema Eléctrico Nacional” (POASEN, in Spanish) on

introducing distributed generation have been occurring and causing delays1314 in its

implementation through the last years among the main actors of the solar sector: the Ministry of

Environment and Energy (MINAE), the Autoridad Reguladora de Servicios Públicos (ARESEP,

in Spanish, a public entity that fixes prices and standards on public services), the electricity

agencies of the country and the private companies that supply solar panels. One of the main

10 Arias, Juan, “China financiará paneles solares para que Costa Rica alcance el 100% de cobertura eléctrica en hogares”, La Nacion, June 2 2013. Link: http://bit.ly/2gzjjfS 11 Madrigal, Maria, ameliarueda.com, “Más de 600 mil clientes del ICE pueden optar por un plan de energía solar", February 21 2014 (via tecdigital.tec.ac.cr). Link: http://bit.ly/2htLNsY 12 Fornaguera, Irela: “Cese de plan piloto del ICE alarma al sector energético”, La Nacion, February 20, 2015. Link: http://bit.ly/2hkkpQB 13 Fornaguera, Irela: “Falta de reglamentos apaga la generación solar en Costa Rica”, La Nacion, February 20, 2015. Link: http://bit.ly/2hM78NG 14 Pomareda, Fabiola: “Delays, excuses and gripes mark approaching deadline for distributed electricity generation in Costa Rica”, The Tico Times, September 29, 2014. Link: http://bit.ly/2hvh5Am

discrepancies between MINAE and ARESEP was the legal nature of [[net metering]], being solved

by the Attorney General of the Republic (Procuraduría General de la República, in Spanish) in

June 201515.

The final resolution stated that distributed generation for self-consumption is not considered a

public service in Costa Rica. In October 2015, the government finally published16 the required

regulatory framework that entered into operation in April 2016.

By 2015, countries like [[Guatemala]] or [[Honduras]] have 85 MW and 388 MW of solar power

capacity installed respectively, and Nicaragua and Panama are also ahead of Costa Rica with 1.4

MW and 42.7 MW, according with a report17 released in july 2016 by the Economic Commission

for Latin America and the Caribbean, CEPAL, in Spanish). ICE’s position is that the maximum

capacity that could be allowed in the National Electric System is 60 MW, distributed in plants of

no more than 5 MW across the territory18. However, the institution is not reporting to develop

more solar projects in the next 10 years in their expansion plan.

15 Rojas, Pablo, “Minae gana pulso a Aresep: Procuraduría dicta que generación distribuida para autoconsumo no es servicio público”, CRHoy.com, July 2 2015. Link: http://bit.ly/2hM1dbD 16 Rojas Pablo, “Publican reglamento sobre generación para autoconsumo”, CRHoy.com, October 9 2015. Link: http://bit.ly/2gJRi8G 17 Comisión Económica para América Latina y el Caribe (CEPAL), “Estudio Económico de América Latina y el Caribe”, 2016 (LC/G.2684-P), Santiago, 2016. Link: http://bit.ly/2hDql8n 18 Lara, Juan, “Istmo Rebasa a Costa Rica en generación solar de electricidad”, La Nacion, October 31 2016. Link: http://bit.ly/2hrLXnK

Energy Organizations

Ministry of Environment and Energy

The Ministry of Environment and Energy of Costa Rica (MINAE, in English), is the governmental

institution responsible of the management of the resources of Costa Rica in the environmental and

energy field. The President of Costa Rica, Luis Guillermo Solis Rivera, appointed19 engineer Irene

Cañaz Díaz – a former consultant of the GIZ - as Vice-ministry of Energy in May 2014. According

with the Ministry’s goals, the energy agenda of Costa Rica aims to generate a more rational and

efficient use of energy resources, reduce the dependency to international markets and prepare the

country to face climate change and oil depletion. The Viceministry of Energy has three general

departments: 1) Sectoral Energy, 2) Hydrocarbons and 3) Transportation and Fuels Marketing.

Sectoral Energy Department

The Sectoral Energy Department (Dirección Sectorial de Energía, or DSE in Spanish) is

responsible to create and promote the integral energy planning, using policies and strategic actions

for guaranteeing the supply and quality of energy of Costa Rica. Among the objectives20 of the

DSE, they are responsible of creating the National Energy Plan taking into account the National

19 Energias4e.com: “Coordinadora del Programa 4E- GIZ fue nombrada Viceministra de Energía en Costa Rica”, Programa 4E-GIZ, May 9 2014. Link: http://bit.ly/2hk9HcX 20 Ministry of Environment and Energy of Costa Rica, “Objectives of the Sectoral Energy Department”, 2016. Link: http://bit.ly/2hM7dB5

Development Plan of Costa Rica, as well as the demands of the Ministry of Environment and

Energy.

Costa Rican Institute of Electricity

The Costa Rican Institute of Electricity (ICE, in Spanish) was created on April 8th, 194921 as an

autonomous state-owned institution, as a way to solve the issues of electric energy availability that

the country was faced during the 40’s. Since then, the ICE has been executing the electrical

development of Costa Rica. In the last years, the institution has evolved as a corporation (Grupo

ICE) clustering other public companies that include “Radiográfica Costarricense” (RACSA) and

the National Company of Power and Illumination (Compañía Nacional de Fuerza y Luz, CNFL).

“Grupo ICE” has used as primary source the hydroelectricity for developing its infrastructure, but

it has also built (and is currently building) several geothermal, wind and solar energy projects. It

has more than 15,000 workers22 and has customer service offices in the whole country.

21 Costa Rican Institute of Electricity, “The history of Grupo ICE”, grupoICE.com, 2016. Link: http://bit.ly/2hkcdzT 22 Costa Rican Institute of Electricity, “About Grupo ICE”, grupoICE.com, 2016. Link: http://bit.ly/2hM90pG

Costa Rican Petroleum Refinery (RECOPE S.A.)

The Costa Rican Petroleum Refinery ([[Refinadora Costarricense de Petróleo]], RECOPE) is a

state-owned institution, considered the biggest company in Central America. Since its creation in

1963 (and nationalized in 1974), RECOPE focuses its operations on import and distribution of

fossil fuels in Costa Rica23.

In the research field, RECOPE has an experimental plant of biodiesel and through internships and

agreements, works with public universities of Costa Rica and research centers in the developing

of alternative fuels like biofuels, natural gas and hydrogen.

Hydrogen Research:

In 2011, the Board of Directors of RECOPE signed a partnership with [[Ad Astra Rocket

Company]], an American rocket propulsion company with facilities in Costa Rica, for jointly

research in hydrogen technologies for the transport sector24.

The project comprehends three phases: phase A (focused in the development of a feasibility study

and to generate capacities for designing a station of compression and storage of hydrogen,

delivered in 2012); phase B (designing and implementation of the storage system, delivered in

23 Costa Rican Petroleum Refinery (RECOPE), “Marco Filosófico RECOPE”, recope.go.cr, 2016. Link: http://bit.ly/2gYLGVM 24 Chang, Franklin, “Del Petróleo al hidrógeno: una aspiración con grandes posibilidades para Costa Rica” (Published in La Nación on September 6, 2015), August 5, 2015 Link: http://bit.ly/2gJKjMU

2013) and phase C (development of the integrated and autonomous system of energy supply from

hydrogen).

The research work has been stranded since 2014, when the new administration of RECOPE

decided to not continue with the initiative arguing doubts about the legal authority of RECOPE to

invest in clean energy. In March 2015, the CEO of Ad Astra Rocket Company and former Costa

Rican-American astronaut, Dr. Franklin Chang Diaz, announced the end of relations25 with

RECOPE due their lack of definition and the delays the project was suffering. The announcement

was followed by harsh criticism26 of the population and national media against RECOPE’s Board

of Directors as well as other governmental institutions involved in the decision27.

Costa Rican Association of Solar Energy (ACESOLAR)

The Asociación Costarricense de Energía Solar28 (ACESOLAR, in Spanish) is a NGO which its

main objective is to promote the use and development of solar energy in the country. The

organization collaborate with the private and public representatives related to the sector.

25 Ruiz, Gerardo, Ad Astra rompe relación con Recope para usar hidrógeno como combustible, ElFinancierocr.com, March 4 2015. Link: http://bit.ly/2hrL92b 26 Rojas, Pablo, “Franklin Chang sobre proyecto de hidrógeno: ‘no han entendido lo que significa’”, CRHoy.com, August 13 2015 Link: http://bit.ly/2gzarH5 27 Arguedas, Diego, “Franklin Chang, presidente de Ad Astra Rocket: ‘Torpeza estatal se ha incrementado a través de muchos años’”, semanariouniversidad.ucr.cr, March 11 2015. Link: http://bit.ly/2hv92DB 28 Costa Rican Association of Solar Energy (ACESOLAR), “Who’s ACESOLAR?”, acesolar.org, Link: http://bit.ly/2hDwbGK

Carbon neutrality goal

In 2007, the administration of former President of Costa Rica [[Oscar Arias Sánchez]] announced

the national goal to become Costa Rica the first carbon neutral country in the world by 2021, the

same year when the country will celebrate 200 years of independence from Spain. The proposal

was officially presented to the United Nations Framework for Climate Change Convention

(UNFCCC) in 2010. The initiative has been kept29 by the next administrations of President [[Laura

Chinchilla Miranda]] and [[Luis Guillermo Solís Rivera]] and aims to evolve the national

economy’s carbon footprint to no more than 1 ton of [[CO2 emissions]] per capita.

The proposal requires to substitute the use of fossil fuels in the country and the transformation of

the transport subsector – which represents 66% of national hydrocarbons consumption and 54%30

of the total CO2 emissions – into clean technologies such as [[electric vehicles]], [[biofuels]],

[[hybrid cars]] and [[hydrogen propulsion vehicles]], as well as the promotion among the

population to use more the public transport system. 41% of the total CO2 emissions in the transport

subsector comes from particular vehicles, according with the government. These measures could

allow the country to save between USD $1.5 and USD $2 billion dollars per year31. In order to

achieve the goal, Costa Rica also needs to improve its waste management practices and agriculture

methods that represents significant proportions of the national GHG emissions.

29 Costa Rican participation in COP21, Paris France: Link: http://bit.ly/2hMfK73 30 VII National Energy Plan of Costa Rica 2015 – 2030, Ministerio de Ambiente y Energía MINAE; Programa de las Naciones Unidas para el Desarrollo PNUD. – 1 ed. – San José, C.R, page 93, 2015. Link: http://bit.ly/2hvj2MZ 31 Leon P. et al. “Informe Estado de La Nacion 2010”, Chapter 6 (Contribución Especial), page 280, 2010 Link: http://bit.ly/2hrNIkK

In the last years, the private sector has been actively involved adopting energy efficiency policies

and developing low carbon certifications. The National Institute of Technical Norms of Costa Rica

(INTECO, in Spanish) published the regulations that private companies should follow to get

carbon neutral certified.

Regulatory framework:

The energy policy of the current administration is guided by the concept of energy sustainability

with low emissions. The “VII Plan Nacional de Energía 2015-203032” was designed according the

priorities of the National Development Plan 2015-2018 and the government plan of President

[[Luis Guillermo Solís Rivera]].

The plan is based in five main objectives that are: 1) introducing changes in the National Power

System for increasing energy efficiency, savings and improve the management of electricity

demand; 2) encouraging the development of distributed generation and self-consumption

electricity; 3) to update the law and institutional framework specialized in promoting energy

efficiency; 4) to improve the calculation methods of electricity tariffs and 5) to raise the

management efficiency of public entities of the electricity sector.

Regarding the transport sector, the national energy plan is also including as its main goals to

promote “cleaner systems and clients of collective transport for hence mitigate the effects of

32 VII National Energy Plan of Costa Rica 2015 – 2030, Ministerio de Ambiente y Energía MINAE; Programa de las Naciones Unidas para el Desarrollo PNUD. – 1 ed. – San José, C.R: PNUD, Page 7, 2015. Link: http://bit.ly/2hkjBLG

[[global warming]] as well as encouraging the use of alternative fuels in the transport system,

reducing the dependency of hydrocarbons, the emission of polluting gases and improve the

regulations for importing new and used vehicles in order to promote energy efficiency and

polluting reduction”.

In addition, the National Development Plan of Costa Rica 2015-201833 establish the sectoral

objectives for the energy policy: 1) “To promote actions facing global climate change through

citizens’ participation, technological change, innovation processes, research and knowledge for

ensuring the welfare, human security and competitiveness of the country” and 2) “supply energy

demand of the country using an energy matrix that ensure an optimal and continuous supply of

electricity and fuels, promoting an efficient use of energy for keeping and improve the

competitiveness of the country”.

Utility private scale projects are regulated by the Law 72003435 (“Ley que Autoriza la Generación

Eléctrica Autónoma o Paralela”, in Spanish), approved by the [[Legislative Assembly of Costa

Rica]] in 1990. The private sector provides to [[Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad]] (ICE)

33 Costa Rica. Ministerio de Planificación Nacional y Política Económica. Plan Nacional de Desarrollo 2015-2018 “Alberto Cañas Escalante” /Ministerio de Planificación Nacional y Política Económica. -- San José, CR : MIDEPLAN, page 478, 2014. Link: http://bit.ly/2hk8Jxn 34 Law 7200 “Ley que autoriza la generación eléctrica autónoma o paralela, Legislative Assembly of Costa Rica, 1990”. Link: http://bit.ly/2gGRkQj 35 Short description and implications of Law 7200 for the private sector (solarplaza.com). Link: http://bit.ly/2hvbvxX

nearly a quarter of the electricity generation capacity available and 10% of generated. However,

there’s still debate about how much private participation should be in the market.

By 2013, approximately 14.5% of the total generation in the country was provided by private

companies and 23% of installed capacity in the National Power System, according with ICE36. The

Law 7200 establishes that ICE has two ways to buy private electric generation. In Chapter I it is

defined the regimen of autonomous or parallel generation, that regulates the BOO (Build, Own

and Operate) contracts. Article 7 of the law states that the “ICE will be able to declare eligible a

project for the use of a plant of limited capacity, meanwhile the power, with the exception of

parallel generation, doesn’t represent more than 15% of the collective power of electric plants that

constitutes the National Power System”.

In Chapter II it is defined the competitive regimen that regulates the BOT (Build, Operate and

Transfer) contracts. Article 20 allows the ICE to “buy electric energy from private companies up

to an additional 15% of the limit specified in Article 7. This authorization is entitled for acquiring

energy from hydro, geothermal, wind and any other non-conventional source, in bundles equal or

smaller than 50,000 kW of maximum power (added by Law 7508 on May 9, 1995)”. By 2014, ICE

had 25 BOO contracts and 9 BOT contracts.

Despite political pressure to increase the participation of private companies and opening the market

for reducing the costs of electricity, ICE is opposing the idea arguing their expansion plan is

already solving the demand for 20 years ahead and the costs of the generation matrix are the lowest.

36 Sancho, Manuel, “Generación eléctrica privada representa el 15% de la total en el país”, CRHoy.com, July 29 2014. Link: http://bit.ly/2gYOuSY

According to ICE, until 2020 the country will need 850 MW of power generation, and all this

demand is already considered with the current on-going projects37.

Although the country has abundant renewable energy resources, more than 25% of Costa Rican

territory has been entitled as natural protected land38, reducing and limiting the possibility to

explore and exploit these renewable sources, like [[geothermal energy]] in national parks.

In 2016, continuous discussions in the [[Legislative Assembly of Costa Rica]] have been occurring

for a reform that would allow the ICE to exploit geothermal energy in protected areas. The Project

19.233 was presented by the former candidate to the Presidency of the Republic and incumbent

Congress Representative, [[Otton Solís Fallas]] from the Citizen Action Party. This initiative has

raising concerns from some activists that claim the environmental controls led in the country by

the National Technical Bureau of Environment (Secretaría Técnica Nacional del Ambiente,

SETENA in Spanish) are weak. The activists also argue the process of exploration for geothermal

energy is similar than those used in oil and mining39.

37 Sancho, Manuel, “Posibles soluciones a los aumentos en tarifas eléctricas varían, mientras sectores privados reclaman”, CRHoy.com, March 24, 2014. Link: http://bit.ly/2gJIjV5 38 Overall description of Costa Rican energy resources and institutions (reegle.info), “Costa Rica (2012) - Policy and Regulatory Overviews - Clean Energy Information Portal” (Source: REEEP Policy Database) Link: http://bit.ly/2gyW4md 39 Chacón, Vinicio, “Debate por explotación de geotermia en parques nacionales se reaviva”, Semanario Universidad, July 13, 2016: Link: http://bit.ly/2htG9XV

However, in June 2015, the Minister of Environment and Energy, Edgar Gutierrez Espeleta,

alleged MINAE is not currently planning to exploit geothermal energy in national parks and will

postpone the decision until further research about its impact in the country and its biodiversity40.

is made.

Conflicts

Controversy with El Diquís Hydroelectric Project

The [[El Diquís Hydroelectric Project]] has been one of the most important projects for the

[[Instituto Costarricense de Electricidad]], it will be the biggest hydropower dam of the Central

American region and it’s designed to provide stability and reliability to the Costa Rican electricity

generation grid. Diquís will produce 655 MW, for a total of 3050 MW per year. Its reservoir will

extent to an area of approximately 7.407 ha (900 ha of it in indigenous protected lands) and its

tunnel of 9 m diameter will have more than 11 km length. The project will require to move seven

communities from the area, that is more than a thousand families. The project total expected cost

is around USD $2 billion41.

The size of the project and its impact on the local population have raised concerns throughout the

years. Among the actions deployed by the activists against the project are lawsuits for

environmental damages, protests and communications breaks with the government and Grupo

40 Quesada, Pablo, “Minae no explotará energía geotérmica en Parques Nacionales”, LaPrensaLibre.cr, June 2 2015. Link: http://bit.ly/2hLZPpf 41 Costa Rican Institute of Electricity, “El Diquis Hydroelectric Project: General Information”, pheldiquis.cr Link: http://bit.ly/2hviRS9

ICE’s authorities42. The Diquís’s reservoir is projected to flood 10% of the China Kichá territory

(104 ha) and 8% of Térraba land (726 ha)43.

Diquís is currently in the pre-investment phase but its impact over culture, environment and life in

general for the indigenous made involved the United Nations [[Committee on the Elimination of

Racial Discrimination]] (CERD) as a key actor since 2011, after a letter sent by representatives of

the indigenous Térraba community. In their notification letter44, CERD reminded to Costa Rica

the obligations of consult and participation to all indigenous communities that would be affected

by the project. The country replied to the U.N. informing the status of the project and highlighting

that the construction has not initiated yet.

In July 2015, a USD $200 million lawsuit against ICE and the Government of Costa Rica set by

one of the associations representing the indigenous communities, alleging presumed

environmental damage during the preliminary exploration works, was dismissed by a justice

court45.

42 Semanario Universidad, “Represa Diquis del ICE genera divergencias, indigenas y comunidades combaten proyectos de electricidad”, semanariouniversidad.ucr.cr Link: http://bit.ly/2hviVRT 43 Lara, Juan, “Gobierno emite reglas de consulta indígena para hacer planta hidroeléctrica”, La Nación, March 15 2016. Link: http://bit.ly/2hMbe8q 44 La Nación, “ONU alerta a país por usar tierra indígena para represa”, La Nación, April 3 2011. Link: http://bit.ly/2gJS59D 45 Vizcaíno, Irene, “ICE se libra de demanda por ocupar tierras indígenas para planta El Diquís”, La Nación, July 31 2015. Link: http://bit.ly/2gYUfQo

In October 2016, after a failed meeting with authorities of the Government of Costa Rica led by

the Vice-minister of the Presidency Ana Gabriel Zuñiga, a group of indigenous representatives

and local leaders confirmed their non-negotiable position against the project46. The Government

argued that they are currently working in a decree to facilitate the consultation process that should

be released by January 2017.

In November 2016, the Constitutional Court of Costa Rica declared unconstitutional the Article 8

of the presidential decree that establish that the ICE is allowed to exploit materials for the dam,

the powerhouse and collateral works in the areas where indigenous communities are located47.

46 Chinchilla, Sofía, “Indígenas reafirman oposición ‘innegociable’ a plan de represa”, La Nación, October 31 2016. Link: http://bit.ly/2htT0cG 47 Angulo, Yamileth, “Sala IV anula permiso dado al ICE para desarrollar Diquís en territorios indígenas”, elmundo.cr, November 2 2016. Link: http://bit.ly/2gYPmab

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• (cur | prev) 01:09, 7 December 2016 Ceab.ico (talk | contribs) . . (43,691 bytes) (+2) . . (→Regulatory framework) (undo)

• (cur | prev) 01:08, 7 December 2016 Ceab.ico (talk | contribs) . . (43,689 bytes) (+1) . . (→Regulatory framework) (undo)

• (cur | prev) 01:05, 7 December 2016 Ceab.ico (talk | contribs) . . (43,688 bytes) (-6) . . (→Regulatory framework) (undo)

• (cur | prev) 01:04, 7 December 2016 Ceab.ico (talk | contribs) . . (43,694 bytes) (+8,230) . . (→Legislation: Changing the title to "Regulatory framework". I include some contributions from the VII National Energy Plan, the National Development Plan, the legal framework for private companies and the geothermal energy debate in National Assembl) (undo)

• (cur | prev) 07:22, 6 December 2016 Yobot (talk | contribs) m . . (35,464 bytes) (-3) . . (→Solar power: WP:CHECKWIKI error fixes using AWB) (undo)

• (cur | prev) 08:30, 5 December 2016 Ceab.ico (talk | contribs) . . (35,467 bytes) (+1) . . (→Costa Rican Association of Solar Energy (ACESOLAR)) (undo)

• (cur | prev) 08:28, 5 December 2016 Ceab.ico (talk | contribs) . . (35,466 bytes) (+495) . . (→Energy organizations) (undo)

• (cur | prev) 08:25, 5 December 2016 Ceab.ico (talk | contribs) . . (34,971 bytes) (+4) . . (→Solar power) (undo)

• (cur | prev) 08:23, 5 December 2016 Ceab.ico (talk | contribs) . . (34,967 bytes) (+102) . . (→Solar power) (undo)

• (cur | prev) 08:21, 5 December 2016 Ceab.ico (talk | contribs) . . (34,865 bytes) (+7,228) . . (→Solar power: I'm updating the information in this section with some projects and events occurred in the last years as well as the current situation regarding the Costa Rican plans for developing distributed generation.) (undo)

• (cur | prev) 10:39, 1 December 2016 NSH002 (talk | contribs) . . (27,637 bytes) (-93) . . (Clean up duplicate template arguments using findargdups) (undo | thank)

• (cur | prev) 07:22, 1 December 2016 Yobot (talk | contribs) m . . (27,730 bytes) (-12) . . (WP:CHECKWIKI error fixes using AWB) (undo)

• (cur | prev) 08:21, 30 November 2016 Ceab.ico (talk | contribs) . . (27,742 bytes) (+1) . . (→Energy organizations) (undo)

• (cur | prev) 08:20, 30 November 2016 Ceab.ico (talk | contribs) . . (27,741 bytes) (+42) . . (→Solar power) (undo)

• (cur | prev) 08:14, 30 November 2016 Ceab.ico (talk | contribs) . . (27,699 bytes) (+1) . . (→Energy organizations) (undo)

• (cur | prev) 08:13, 30 November 2016 Ceab.ico (talk | contribs) . . (27,698 bytes) (+164) . . (→Ministry of Environment and Energy) (undo)

• (cur | prev) 08:08, 30 November 2016 Ceab.ico (talk | contribs) . . (27,534 bytes) (-1) . . (→Costa Rican Petroleum Refinery (RECOPE S.A.)) (undo)

• (cur | prev) 08:07, 30 November 2016 Ceab.ico (talk | contribs) . . (27,535 bytes) (+5) . . (→Energy organizations) (undo)

• (cur | prev) 08:06, 30 November 2016 Ceab.ico (talk | contribs) . . (27,530 bytes) (+86) . . (→Ministry of Environment and Energy) (undo)

• (cur | prev) 08:02, 30 November 2016 Ceab.ico (talk | contribs) . . (27,444 bytes) (+4,895) . . (→Energy organizations) (undo)

• (cur | prev) 04:37, 30 November 2016 Ceab.ico (talk | contribs) . . (22,549 bytes) (+1,825) . . (→Energy organizations) (undo)

• (cur | prev) 04:30, 30 November 2016 Ceab.ico (talk | contribs) . . (20,724 bytes) (+232) . . (→Energy consumption in Costa Rica) (undo)

• (cur | prev) 04:24, 30 November 2016 Ceab.ico (talk | contribs) . . (20,492 bytes) (+1,423) . . (→Sources) (undo)

• (cur | prev) 19:01, 29 November 2016 109.125.125.83 (talk) . . (19,069 bytes) (-7) . . (→Sources: Fixed typo) (undo) (Tags: canned edit summary, Mobile app edit, Mobile edit)

• (cur | prev) 09:15, 27 November 2016 Yobot (talk | contribs) m . . (19,076 bytes) (0) . .

(WP:CHECKWIKI error fixes using AWB) (undo) • (cur | prev) 02:41, 26 November 2016 Ceab.ico (talk | contribs) . . (19,076 bytes) (-1) . .

(→Hydroelectricity) (undo) (cur | prev) 02:33, 26 November 2016 Ceab.ico (talk | contribs) . . (19,077 bytes) (+1,672) . . (→Hydroelectricity: I'm updating some of the data accordingly with the information of the VII National Energy Plan developed by the Ministry of Environment and Energy of Costa Rica.) (undo) Summary of contributions: Total bytes added: 35,617 (61.1% of total)

Source: (Wikimedia Tool Labs) Link: http://bit.ly/2hkKvD7

Engagement in Talk Pages:

1. Wikipedia Talk: WikiProject Energy: Link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia_talk:WikiProject_Energy

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2. WikiProject Energy / Assessment: Link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia:WikiProject_Energy/Assessment#Quality_scale

Comments: In order to improve the current ranking of the article in the Wiki Project (start quality, low importance), A request of an assessment was posted. No responses so far.

3. WikiProject Costa Rica: Link: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wikipedia_talk:WikiProject_Costa_Rica#Renewable_energy_in_Costa_Rica

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