Finnish headquartered technology group Wärtsilä states that it has signed as order intake in Q1 2025 an innovative decarbonisation services agreement with Aqualectra, the energy utility company of the Caribbean island of Curaçao.
This agreement will see Wärtsilä’s payments directly tied to achieving key performance indicators like how effectively it maximises renewable energy use, reducing CO2 emissions intensity, lowering costs, and enhancing energy reliability on Curaçao.
The signed 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 as the company informs.
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 Wärtsilä we are not just talking the talk but walking the walk.,” says Anders Lindberg, President of Wärtsilä Energy and EVP Wärtsilä, who adds that “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.”
