Image credit: Wärtsilä Corporation
Technology group Wärtsilä has signed a five-year services agreement with Aqualectra, energy utility company of the Caribbean Island of Curaçao.
Wärtsilä will work together with Aqualectra to optimise and decarbonise power generation on Curaçao, leveraging energy storage, grid balancing engines and its GEMS Digital Energy Platform to this end.
The partnership will also see Wärtsilä install a new 38.4MW grid balancing power plant and a 25MW / 45MWh energy storage system, as well as deliver expertise to support Aqualectra’s team.
The aim is to provide more affordable and reliable power to Curaçao residents, and with additional flexibility, increase the amount of renewable generation on the island.
In the last ten years, Aqualectra reached a renewable penetration of at least 30%. The utility aims to increase this to above 50%, while minimising spinning reserves and optimising fuel consumption of grid balancing reserves. This optimisation, which will be spurred through this partnership, could have a significant impact on lowering the tariff for the community.
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Anders Lindberg, president of Wärtsilä Energy and EVP Wärtsilä, commented on the partnership: “…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.
“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,” Lindberg concluded.
According to Wärtsilä, this partnership with Aqualectra could be used as a blueprint for other island nations seeking to develop flexible energy grids that rely less on fossil fuels and more on renewable energy.
Originally published on Power Engineering International.
