Curaçao has made impressive progress in renewable energy. At the same time, neighborhoods are once again being disconnected from the electricity grid because there is not enough generation capacity to meet demand.
At first glance, those two realities appear contradictory. In fact, they expose one of the most important challenges facing Curaçao’s economy: generating more renewable electricity is not the same as having enough reliable electricity available at every moment.
Since Saturday, August 15, Aqualectra has again been forced to implement controlled load shedding. What began as a difficult weekend has continued into this week. On Tuesday, August 18, neighborhoods are once again being disconnected in stages.
The immediate explanation is relatively straightforward. Aqualectra does not have enough conventional generation capacity available, wind production has fallen sharply, and battery storage has not had sufficient opportunity to recharge.
But the more important question is why Curaçao's electricity system has so little room to absorb these problems.
The 40 percent renewable paradox
The current difficulties come at a particularly interesting moment.
According to preliminary figures from the Regulatory Authority of Curaçao (RAC), renewable sources accounted for approximately 40 percent of Curaçao's electricity production during the first five months of 2026.
That is significant progress and demonstrates how important wind and solar power have already become to the island.
But the 40 percent figure can easily be misunderstood.
It does not mean that Curaçao has 40 percent renewable electricity capacity guaranteed at any particular moment. It means that, measured over a period of time, approximately 40 percent of the electricity actually generated came from renewable sources.
Those are two very different things.
A wind turbine may contribute significantly to electricity production over a month, but when the wind suddenly drops, that capacity can disappear precisely when electricity is needed.
Solar energy faces a similar limitation. It can make an important contribution during daylight hours but cannot directly supply an evening peak after sunset without storage.
Curaçao can therefore simultaneously have an impressive renewable-energy share and an electricity shortage.
That is essentially what is happening now.
Four machines expose the vulnerability
The immediate weakness has become visible because four Aqualectra generation units are currently unavailable due to technical problems.
According to figures provided by the utility, Curaçao's electricity demand can reach approximately 140 megawatts on particularly hot days. With all conventional generating units available, Aqualectra can produce around 150 MW.
That already represents a relatively narrow margin.
With four units currently unavailable, machine capacity has fallen to approximately 100 MW.
Curaçao also has around 70 MW of installed wind capacity, but installed capacity is not the same as actual production. Aqualectra says wind generation can fall below 10 MW when conditions are unfavorable.
The island's 25 MW battery system can temporarily compensate for part of that shortfall, but batteries do not create electricity. Once their stored energy is depleted, they must be recharged.
This explains why several unfortunate circumstances occurring simultaneously — unavailable generators, high demand, weak wind and depleted batteries — can force Aqualectra to disconnect customers.
But it also exposes the larger structural issue.
A resilient electricity system should be designed precisely for moments when several things go wrong at once.
Is electricity demand outrunning Curaçao?
There is another factor that deserves considerably more attention: Curaçao itself is changing.
The economy has expanded. Tourism has grown rapidly. New hotels, resorts, apartment complexes, homes and commercial developments are being constructed. Air conditioning, refrigeration, swimming pools, desalination, restaurants, businesses and digital infrastructure all require electricity.
At the same time, hotter periods can increase demand as households and businesses use more cooling.
This raises a question that extends far beyond Aqualectra:
Is Curaçao planning its electricity infrastructure at the same speed that it is planning its economic development?
Every major development project ultimately creates an infrastructure footprint. A 300-room hotel is not simply another tourism investment. It represents additional long-term demand for electricity, water, sewage capacity, waste processing and road infrastructure.
The same applies to hundreds or thousands of new homes.
Consequently, approving economic development without simultaneously planning the infrastructure necessary to support it risks creating growth that the island cannot comfortably carry.
Renewable energy isn't the problem
The current situation should not become an argument against Curaçao's transition toward renewable energy.
Moving toward wind and solar energy makes strategic sense for an island that has historically depended heavily on imported fuel.
The fact that renewables have reached around 40 percent of electricity production during part of 2026 should therefore be viewed as progress.
But the higher the proportion of weather-dependent generation becomes, the more important the rest of the electricity system becomes.
Curaçao needs renewable generation, but it also needs sufficient storage, dependable conventional or other dispatchable generation, adequate reserve margins, a strong grid and enough redundancy to withstand unexpected failures.
The objective cannot simply be to maximize renewable-energy percentages.
The objective must be to create the cleanest electricity system possible without sacrificing reliability.
The 150 MW question
Perhaps one of the most important numbers in the current debate is not 40 percent but 150 MW.
If peak electricity demand can already reach around 140 MW and conventional capacity with all machines operating is approximately 150 MW, the difference is only around 10 MW before renewable generation is taken into account.
That deserves scrutiny.
An electricity system cannot be designed on the assumption that every generating unit will always be available. Machines require scheduled maintenance. Equipment fails. Parts have to be replaced. Unexpected technical problems occur.
Curaçao's geographic position adds another complication: replacement equipment and specialized technicians cannot always arrive immediately.
Reserve capacity is therefore not wasted capacity. It is insurance against precisely the situation Curaçao is experiencing today.
Salu could change the equation
There is reason for optimism.
Aqualectra is repairing the damaged machines and working to increase generation capacity. The new 40 MW Salu Power Plant is expected to provide an important additional buffer.
If the planned investments perform as expected, Curaçao should enter 2027 with considerably more generation capacity than it has today.
But adding another 40 MW should not end the discussion.
The relevant question is how long that additional capacity will remain sufficient if Curaçao's economy, population of buildings, tourism industry and electricity consumption continue expanding.
Infrastructure planning should therefore be based not merely on today's peak demand, but on realistic projections for 2030, 2035 and beyond.
Curaçao needs to know its reserve margin
The current crisis also shows why the public debate needs better indicators.
Residents hear figures about installed wind capacity, battery capacity, megawatts of generation and renewable-energy percentages. What they ultimately need to know is simpler: how much electricity does Curaçao need at peak demand, how much dependable capacity is available, and how much remains if the largest generators unexpectedly fail?
That reserve margin should become one of the central indicators by which Curaçao measures the health of its electricity system.
The same applies to battery storage. Saying that Curaçao has 25 MW of batteries only tells part of the story. For understanding resilience, the public also needs to know how many megawatt-hours can be stored and therefore how long that power can be supplied.
Economic development needs an energy calculation
There is also a policy lesson for the government.
Curaçao is actively pursuing tourism investment, construction and economic growth. That strategy needs to be connected much more directly to infrastructure planning.
When large developments are considered, authorities should know their expected electricity and water demand and incorporate that demand into long-term capacity forecasts.
Otherwise, Curaçao risks celebrating new investments without fully accounting for the infrastructure those investments require.
Growth is only sustainable when the systems underneath it can carry the additional load.
The real test of the energy transition
Curaçao's energy transition should therefore not be judged solely by how much renewable electricity the island produces.
A successful transition has at least three dimensions: sustainability, affordability and reliability.
Forty percent renewable electricity is an important achievement. But households cannot run refrigerators on annual percentages, hospitals cannot operate equipment on installed capacity, and businesses cannot function on electricity that might be available if the wind picks up.
The real test comes on a hot, windless evening when demand is high and a generating unit unexpectedly fails.
Can the system continue operating without disconnecting customers?
That is the standard Curaçao ultimately has to meet.
And that leads to a broader question than who is responsible for this week's outages.
Is Curaçao building an electricity system for the island it has today, or for the larger economy it wants to have tomorrow?
Because if tourism, construction and the economy continue growing faster than generation, storage and reserve capacity, the current electricity shortage will not simply be a technical incident.
It will be a warning.