Energy storage systems are beginning to show simple returns of around 2.5 years in certain industrial profiles in Costa Rica , a sign that positions batteries as a concrete alternative to reduce electricity costs, manage demand and reinforce the continuity of production processes.
GoSolar reached this conclusion after analyzing two scenarios based on 12 months of real-world consumption data measured every 15 minutes . The calculated payback periods were around three years for one installation and two and a half years for the other. The company clarified that these analyses are based on actual consumption and not on projects already built.
The improved economic performance of energy storage facilities is thus beginning to shift the discussion on energy storage in the country , at a time when companies are no longer solely focused on electricity prices, but also on supply stability, operational continuity, and their capacity to respond to a more demanding system. This debate was part of the 2026 National Energy Congress , which brought together authorities, regulators, companies, and specialists.
During the meeting, Alberto Rodríguez, CEO of GoSolar and vice president of the Costa Rican Chamber of Distributed Generation , linked the speed of adoption with the technology's ability to generate economic value.
“ Technologies aren’t adopted en masse simply because they’re green; they’re adopted when they generate value for companies. The question is no longer whether batteries will be profitable, but whether each plant has already reached the point where storage improves its operation and competitiveness ,” Rodríguez stated.
International price trends reinforce this trend. According to data compiled by GoSolar, the levelized cost of a four-hour battery reached US$78 per MWh in February 2026 , a record low and 27% lower than the previous year. For reference, combined cycle gas turbines stood at US$102 per MWh.
Meanwhile, a turnkey integrated BESS system averaged US$117 per kWh during 2025 , after registering a year-on-year decrease of 31%. The price of lithium-ion battery packs, for its part, has accumulated an approximate reduction of 85% over the last decade.
The consumption profile begins to define profitability
Lower technology costs improve the equation, although the final result depends on each facility's electricity consumption. The contracted tariff, operating hours, peak demand, and the cost associated with an outage can significantly alter the recovery period.
“ The cost per kilowatt-hour doesn't decide the case. It's the consumption profile and the levers that the analysis finds ,” GoSolar stated.
The most favorable cases studied by the company share continuous two- or three-shift processes, medium-voltage tariffs, high demand during peak hours, and significant losses when the supply is interrupted .
These conditions frequently arise in the plastics industry—extrusion, blow molding, and thermoforming—food processing, cold chains, and energy-intensive plants . Opportunities also emerge among companies that already have photovoltaic generation, have exhausted their rooftop solar capacity, or export surplus energy at midday.
In these scenarios, energy storage allows for adjustments to various aspects of the bill. Reducing the peak demand charge appears to be the most significant benefit , followed by shifting consumption from peak hours to nighttime, making better use of existing solar generation capacity, and protecting processes from micro-outages.
At medium voltage, peak power reaches ₡8408 per kW per month under the Costa Rican Electricity Institute's (ICE) T-MT tariff . At the same time, energy consumed during peak hours costs approximately four times more than during nighttime hours, according to data presented by GoSolar.
The battery takes advantage of this difference by charging when the system has better economic conditions and discharging during periods of greater demand , allowing electricity to be shifted over time without necessarily altering the production process.
“ Costa Rica’s challenge is not how much energy it produces, but when it needs it. And that is exactly the problem a battery solves ,” GoSolar pointed out.
However, the opportunity is not available to all consumers equally. A plant that operates a single daytime shift and whose peak demand is already covered by solar energy is unlikely to achieve a return in less than ten years under the scenarios analyzed by the company.
The need to study each load curve explains the approach used by GoSolar. The Costa Rican company has 13 years of experience, over 500 distributed generation projects completed, and 35 MWp installed , focusing on commercial and industrial clients and analyzing actual consumption before sizing each asset.
From industrial competitiveness to the needs of the system
The expansion of energy storage also responds to the characteristics of the Costa Rican electricity system. During 2025, the country met 97.3% of its demand through renewable sources, with a total consumption of 12,995 GWh and a year-on-year growth of 1.6%.
The variation fell short of the 3.4% projected for that year in the official plan , although the pressure on the system doesn't depend solely on how much annual consumption grows. Peak demand hours and adverse hydrological periods account for a significant portion of the challenges identified by GoSolar.
The events of 2024 highlighted this sensitivity. The El Niño phenomenon drove thermal power generation to record levels, and Costa Rica activated a rationing protocol for the first time since 2007 , according to documentation used by the company.
Furthermore, the Public Services Regulatory Authority anticipates a tariff increase of approximately 8% by 2027 , attributed to greater use of thermal generation and imports. This is an estimate from the regulator and not a firm decision, a point GoSolar emphasized in its documentation.
Within this configuration, batteries can complement the country's existing hydroelectric storage capacity because they operate on different timescales . Reservoirs help manage longer hydrological seasons and variations, while BESS systems respond in hours or seconds.
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“ The reservoir stores seasons; the battery stores hours. Costa Rica needs both ,” GoSolar stated.
Complementarity will become more important as the presence of photovoltaics increases. The 2024-2040 Electricity Generation Expansion Plan envisions incorporating 1041 MW of solar power by 2040 , a development that could generate larger surpluses at midday and steeper increases in the evening, when solar production decreases and demand rises.
GoSolar uses the Chilean experience as a regional benchmark. During 2025, the batteries delivered 2 TWh and prevented approximately 2000 GWh of renewable energy from being added to the grid , equivalent to a 24% reduction compared to what would have occurred without those assets.
The comparison requires considering the differences between the two markets. Chile has a system with strong solar penetration, while Costa Rica maintains a mix with a significant hydroelectric presence , so directly transferring those results to the Costa Rican market is an inference and not an automatic equivalence.
A market behind the meter that can now move forward
The regulatory landscape presents two distinct levels of maturity. In behind-the-meter applications, GoSolar believes that current conditions already allow for the development of projects to manage the self-demand of industries and businesses, while the grid-connected segment still requires additional mechanisms.
Law 10086 and its regulations enable self-consumption , while the comprehensive reform of the POASEN (National Energy Plan) approved by the Public Services Regulatory Authority in May 2026 incorporated, for the first time, technical connection requirements for medium- and high-voltage energy storage. It also added entities such as energy aggregators and energy communities.
Another component of the equation is incentives. Lithium batteries are included in the official list of tax-exempt goods of the Ministry of Environment and Energy , although the stability of these conditions becomes relevant for assets whose investment horizon can extend over 15 or 20 years.
Grid-scale development still faces an additional barrier. Costa Rica lacks a mechanism that would allow a storage system to provide and charge for services such as frequency regulation, reserve, or firmness , according to GoSolar's institutional position.
“ Today in Costa Rica, a battery can save a power plant money, but it cannot yet sell a service to the grid. That is the next natural step ,” the company stated.
Other Latin American markets have already made progress on this discussion. Colombia created the figure of independent storage with participation in the wholesale market in 2026; Chile incorporated these resources into centralized dispatch through an opportunity cost methodology; and Guatemala enabled their intervention in primary frequency regulation.
Costa Rica, to date, has not conducted or launched any energy storage tenders . The ICE's 2024-2040 Electricity Generation Expansion Plan includes 120 MW of battery storage scheduled for 2031 and 2034 .
The region offers different models. In 2026, Colombia awarded 100 MW of storage in an auction that included a product specifically for the 6:00 PM to 10:00 PM peak period, while Mexico allocated 1,850 MW of batteries along with 7,411 MW of renewables .
Brazil has scheduled its first auction dedicated to this technology for December 2026, while the Dominican Republic requires four hours of storage for all projects included in its 600 MW tender .
Chile followed a different path. The country even proposed a tender for 2000 MW of storage, but ultimately withdrew the scheme as private investment progressed under dispatch and remuneration rules.
As of May 2026, the Chilean market had 73 BESS projects under construction for 5728 MW , while seven out of ten connection requests submitted during 2025 incorporated storage systems.
“ Chile didn’t need a storage tender: it needed rules. That’s probably the cheapest lesson Costa Rica can take advantage of ,” GoSolar said.
The solar curve as a reference towards 2030
The experience of distributed solar generation appears as a reference for projecting the evolution of batteries in Costa Rica , mainly because the adoption of both technologies is closely related to cost reduction and the moment when investments reach attractive returns.
The cost of generating electricity using photovoltaic energy fell by approximately 90% between 2010 and 2024 , while global capacity increased from 1.3 GW in 2000 to more than 2200 GW .
Energy storage is experiencing even faster expansion in terms of deployment. According to figures compiled by GoSolar, global additions have increased from 10 GW annually in 2021 to 112 GW , meaning the technology has surpassed 100 GW of new installations per year over a four-year period.
By comparison, solar power took eight years to achieve equivalent growth, and wind power, 15. The combination of lower battery prices, tariff signals, exemptions, and connection procedures thus creates a favorable window for certain Costa Rican industrial consumers.
By 2030, GoSolar expects the commercial and industrial segment behind the meter to lead the first stage of growth , driven by the economics of each project rather than by subsidy schemes, following a similar dynamic to that experienced by distributed photovoltaic generation.
The next step will depend on the evolution of regulations for grid-connected assets. While some industrial profiles are already showing payback periods of around 2.5 years, the larger-scale market will require mechanisms that allow for the monetization of flexibility, reserve capacity, frequency regulation, and other services that BESS systems can provide to the electricity grid.