WILLEMSTAD – Eco Capital is raising concerns that Aqualectra's new Integrated Resource Plan (IRP) may not adequately accommodate large-scale distributed solar projects in which thousands of residential rooftops operate collectively as a commercial electricity producer.
The company is seeking a place in Curaçao's future electricity market for its Flexilife Solar project, which proposes combining solar panels, batteries and digital controls across nearly 7,000 homes.
At the heart of the disagreement is how rooftop solar generation is classified.
The IRP's future scenarios already anticipate substantial growth in decentralized solar power. According to the information cited by Eco Capital, consultant DNV projects approximately 65 megawatts of decentralized solar capacity by 2035 and 73 megawatts by 2040.
Eco Capital argues, however, that this capacity is largely treated as consumer self-generation — solar installations intended primarily to reduce the electricity customers purchase from Aqualectra.
Flexilife Solar would operate differently. Rather than limiting the size of an installation primarily to a household's own consumption, Eco Capital wants to aggregate installations across thousands of properties and manage them as a single electricity-generation portfolio.
The company argues that this distinction is not sufficiently reflected in the current IRP and fears that Curaçao could create significant room for household self-generation while leaving no clear pathway for distributed rooftop systems operating as licensed commercial producers.
Eco Capital says its concession effort predates the current debate over the IRP. According to the company, regulator RAC referred it to the formal procedure for obtaining an electricity-production concession in August 2025.
Eco Capital subsequently submitted a concession application on October 1, 2025. The company also says it formalized an investment agreement before a notary during 2025.
Neither step means that Eco Capital has received a concession or that financing for the project has been secured.
The company acknowledges that financing, technical feasibility, grid integration and performance must still be demonstrated before the project could become operational.
Eco Capital says it is therefore not asking authorities to approve Flexilife Solar automatically. Instead, it wants Curaçao's future energy framework to preserve a separate route through which distributed commercial solar generation can be evaluated.
Under its proposed arrangement, Aqualectra would retain responsibility for grid integrity, connections and the operational requirements needed to maintain a reliable electricity system.
The debate could become important as Curaçao decides how to expand renewable generation in the coming years. The issue is no longer simply how much solar and wind power should be added, but also who will be permitted to produce renewable electricity and under what market structure.
For Eco Capital, that distinction will determine whether rooftop solar remains primarily a tool for individual consumers to lower their electricity purchases or can also develop into a new category of commercial power generation using thousands of Curaçao homes as one interconnected energy resource.