Oct 9th 2013Today ICE, with support from MINAET, launched a significant new program to stimulate small-scale renewable energy generation. It is named the Net-metering Pilot Project.
This Project is extremely important because for the first time in Costa Rica’s history the utilities are inviting customers who invest in small-scale, distributed generation to connect their generation directly to the ICE distribution network. This is a tremendous step forward for Costa Rican consumers hoping to reduce their carbon footprint as well as take more control of their own energy generation and security. (To appreciate the magnitude of this change, consider that up till now ICE and distributors have penalized consumers who install solar panels and wind turbines and connect them to the grid).
All customers can participate, whether they are residential, commercial, industrial or agricultural sector consumers. Participants must add clean, renewable generation at their property, ie solar, wind, biomass, hydro, etc. The entire program is limited in size to 5 MW (ie the equivalent of 5 million Watts of capacity), and a significant portion of this capacity is reserved exclusively for residential consumer. This will prevent the potential that a handful of large industrials could oversubscribe the program.
ICE has indicated that once the program does approach its 5 MW capacity, that they expect to raise the capacity ceiling rather than deny further participants entry. However, this is not certain, and meanwhile it is a ‘first come – first served’ program.