Costa Rica ran almost entirely on renewable energy in 2016

Almost all Costa Rica's electricity was produced by renewable energy in 2016, continuing its reputation as a “verdant gem” among a pile of “black coal rocks”. The Costa Rican Electricity Institute (ICE) said that around 98.1% of the country’s electricity came from green sources.

These included large hydro-power facilities, fed by a myriad of rivers and heavy seasonal rains, geothermal plants, wind turbines, solar panels and biomass plants.

The country used carbon-free electricity for more than 250 days last year with a continuous 110-day stretch from 17 June until 6 October.

A brief blip after that, when fossil fuel plants were switched on, was followed by another clean stint until at least 13 December, according to an ICE spokesman quoted by Mashable news site.

A worker cleans the panels in a solar power park run by the Costa Rican Electricity Institute (ICE) on March 26, 2015 in Guanacaste, Costa Rica COLLECTED

Science and environment journalist Maria Gallucci described the tropical country as "a verdant gem amid a pile of black coal rocks".

Costa Rica used 98.9% renewable energy in 2015.

In comparison, less than 15% of the US electricity supply for January to October 2016 was renewable, according to the US Energy Information Administration.

Coal and natural gas together made up nearly two-thirds of the US electricity generation over that period and nuclear power provided the remaining 19%.

ICE president Carlos Manuel Obregón said he expected renewable power generation to stay “stable” in Costa Rica in 2017.

The country, which hosts more than five per cent of the world’s species biodiversity despite a landmass that covers 0.03% of the planet, has recently set up four new wind farms.

Costa Rican clean development adviser Dr Monica Araya has said the extent of Costa Rica's renewable electricity generation is a “fantastic achievement".

But she added, “It hides a paradox, which is that nearly 70% of all our (Costa Rica's) energy consumption is oil.”

The 98.1% figure only refers to electricity usage, not gas used for heating or fuel used in vehicles, for example.