WILLEMSTAD – A gas turbine at Curaçao Refinery Utilities could become a crucial short-term addition to Curaçao's electricity system as Aqualectra attempts to reduce its dependence on wind power during the current shortage in conventional generation capacity.
Prime Minister Gilmar Pisas says government-owned 2Bays is working to make the CRU turbine operational within four days. The move comes as Aqualectra continues to face a shortage of available generating capacity, forcing the utility to carry out rotating power interruptions when electricity production cannot keep pace with demand.
The significance of the CRU turbine goes beyond simply adding more megawatts.
Unlike wind generation, a functioning gas turbine provides dispatchable capacity that can be called upon when needed. That is particularly important under current conditions because Aqualectra has been relying heavily on wind generation to compensate for unavailable conventional generating units.
When wind production falls, that buffer can disappear rapidly.
Aqualectra warned ahead of the latest round of outages that declining wind would reduce production from the island's wind farms and require earlier use of its battery storage. Once stored energy is depleted, insufficient conventional generation can leave load shedding as the remaining option for balancing electricity supply and demand.
The current situation illustrates a broader challenge facing Curaçao as renewable energy becomes a larger part of the electricity mix: installed renewable capacity and guaranteed available capacity are not the same thing.
The Regulatory Authority of Curaçao has been examining precisely these questions of system stability and reliability. Its recently published independent investigation with ENGIE/Laborelec followed several outages and the island-wide blackout of August 27, 2025, and examined measures needed to strengthen Curaçao's electricity system.
The search for additional firm capacity is not new. In 2024, Aqualectra sought proposals for 10 to 40 MW of temporary generating capacity for up to two years. The utility eventually stopped that tender and instead entered discussions about using CRU's existing gas turbines at the refinery.
That option has now returned to the forefront.
Pisas says temporary Aggreko generators are not financially attractive because their operating and fuel costs would place additional pressure on electricity tariffs. Using generating infrastructure already located on Curaçao could therefore provide a more practical bridge while Aqualectra repairs its own units and completes longer-term investments.
Aqualectra's biggest structural addition is the new Salu Power Plant, designed to add another 40 MW of generating capacity. The company has said the project is intended not only to meet growing electricity demand but also to create greater flexibility for maintenance of existing generating units.
Until more of that firm capacity becomes available, however, the CRU turbine could play an important role in stabilizing the system and reducing the likelihood that periods of weak wind will once again translate into power cuts for households and businesses.