WILLEMSTAD – Koraal Specht and Cornelisbaai could become a testing ground for a new approach to electricity production in Curaçao in which households equipped with solar panels and batteries help supply and stabilize the wider electricity network.
Eco Capital Curaçao has proposed the two areas as a possible pilot location while calling on the government to establish a temporary taskforce to examine the feasibility of a Virtual Power Network.
The company points to expected additional electricity demand from new commercial and industrial activities in Cornelisbaai and proposes examining whether part of that demand could be linked to solar generation and battery storage installed at existing homes in nearby Koraal Specht.
Under such a model, participating households would no longer function solely as electricity consumers. Their available rooftop space and battery capacity could also become part of a larger distributed energy system.
Eco Capital emphasizes that the proposal is currently a policy concept and should not be interpreted as a forecast contained in Aqualectra’s Integrated Resource Plan.
The company wants a government-led taskforce to examine whether the concept is technically and financially feasible before any pilot is approved.
One of the central questions is whether numerous small batteries can be digitally coordinated so that stored electricity becomes available when Curaçao’s grid needs additional power.
Such a system would require rules covering grid stability, data exchange, cybersecurity, ownership, financing and consumer protection.
Eco Capital’s proposal goes beyond residential batteries.
The company also wants the taskforce to investigate whether Curoil could play a role in large-scale energy storage. Batteries could potentially store inexpensive or surplus renewable electricity and return it to the grid during periods of peak demand.
Another possibility identified by Eco Capital is using renewable electricity during favorable production periods for water desalination.
The company also proposes studying whether battery storage could support electrification of Curaçao’s harbor operations and the Mega Pier.
The concept could have broader implications for the island’s energy transition because it would create a role for households and businesses within electricity production rather than concentrating new generation exclusively in large utility-scale projects.
Before that can happen, however, significant questions remain about who would finance and own the equipment, how participating households would be compensated, who would control stored electricity and how the system would interact with Aqualectra’s existing network.
Those are among the issues Eco Capital wants the proposed taskforce to resolve within 90 to 120 days.
If the government accepts the proposal, Koraal Specht and Cornelisbaai could then be considered for a pilot project based on the technical, financial and regulatory criteria developed by the taskforce.