Finland-headed international technology group Wärtsilä Oyj has announced that it has signed an innovative decarbonisation services agreement with Aqualectra, the energy utility company of the Caribbean island of Curaçao. The agreement will see Wärtsilä's payments directly tied to achieving key performance indicators: how effectively it maximises renewable energy use, reducing carbon dioxide emission intensity, lowering costs, and enhancing energy reliability on Curaçao.
The five-year agreement will see Wärtsilä optimise the energy generation on the island in collaboration with Aqualectra, providing a significant step towards Curaçao achieving its target of moving from its current 30 percent renewable capacity to 50 percent in 2025 and 70 percent by at least 2027.
To support Curaçao’s decarbonisation efforts, Wärtsilä will leverage energy storage, grid balancing engines, and its GEMS Digital Energy Platform to optimise energy use across the island, delivering the flexibility required to maximise existing renewable and fossil-based generation assets and future renewable deployments.
The partnership will also see Wärtsilä install a new 38.4 MW grid balancing power plant and a 25 MW / 45 MWh Energy Storage System.
Accelerating the renewable energy transition is at the heart of our mission at Wärtsilä, and this deal showcases exactly how our combination of grid balancing engines, energy storage, and optimisation software can work in harmony to enable wind and solar to thrive. At Wärtsil,ä we are not just talking the talk, but walking the walk, said Anders Lindberg, President of Wärtsilä Energy and EVP Wärtsilä.
Affordable, sustainable, and reliable electricity supply
Through this partnership, Curaçao residents will benefit from more affordable, sustainable, and reliable electricity supply, with Wärtsilä also delivering on-the-ground expertise to support Aqualectra’s skilled team.
Aqualectra has reached a renewable penetration of at least 30 percent as baseload in the last decade and now sees the opportunity to further increase the renewable penetration beyond 50 percent while minimizing spinning reserves and therefore optimizing fuel usage on grid balancing engines.
The increased renewable penetration and optimized fuel consumption will lower the impact on the environment and have a significant impact on lowering the tariff for the community of Curaçao.
The project is underpinned by rigorous short-term and long-term analysis and modelling by Wärtsilä in collaboration with Aqualectra, which has enabled the company to develop a clear decarbonisation and optimisation roadmap for the islanded grid.
Our unique partnership with Aqualectra and the island of Curaçao demonstrates the benefits of connected, strategic system planning to accelerate decarbonisation. We expect it to be the first of many, as we collaborate with other micro-grids, such as island nations and even heavy industries such as mining, to tackle decarbonisation head-on, Anders Lindberg said.
Blueprint for island decarbonization
Island nations are some of the most vulnerable places to climate change due to intensifying extreme weather and rising sea levels.
Many island nations are particularly driven to decarbonise their grids, with Curaçao being a prime example of an island leading the way to prioritise flexibility and clean energy, while also increasing its resilience against global energy challenges.
The partnership between Wärtsilä and Aqualectra is a blueprint for other island nations seeking to develop flexible, resilient energy grids, enabling more renewable capacity and self-sufficiency.
Wärtsilä’s technology is also very well suited for small energy grids, meaning it is well-primed to enable the decarbonisation of other island nations at pace and scale.
