Technology group Wärtsilä has signed a 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 CO2 emissions intensity, lowering costs, and enhancing energy reliability on Curaçao.
The agreement was booked in Wärtsilä’s order intake in the first quarter of 2025.
The five-year deal 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% renewable capacity to 50% in 2025 and 70% 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.
Anders Lindberg, President of Wärtsilä Energy and EVP Wärtsilä, says: “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.”
Lindberg added: “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.”
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 team.
Aqualectra reached a renewable penetration of at least 30% as baseload in the last decade and now sees the opportunity to further increase the renewable penetration beyond 50% while minimizing spinning reserves and therefore optimizing fuel usage on grid balancing engines.
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.
