The current caretaker government in the Netherlands hopes the Second Chamber of Parliament (House of Representatives) will quickly approve an SDE++ subsidy package (see related story) for Curaçao, Aruba and St. Maarten. The Dutch Ministry of Climate and Green Growth KGG has reserved 150 million euros for energy sustainability in the three kingdom countries.
Of this amount, 116 million euros is for investments by Curaçao and Aruba related to “peripheral projects” such as strengthening the electricity grid and energy storage. The idea was to spend the first 49 million euros next year, but that must be approved by the legislature before January 1 and with elections scheduled for October 29 the latter is now in serious doubt.
Curaçao utilities provider Aqualectra wants the money to further reduce dependence on fossil fuels, boost renewable energy efforts and enhance the stability of the island’s power grid. Among key steps is installing a large-scale Battery Energy Storage System (BESS), with as broader goal increasing the share of green energy in the island’s production mix from 50% to 70% by 2027.
Aruba submitted similar plans, but little is known about the exact intentions of St. Maarten. Of course, local utility company GEBE had to deal with the onslaught on its infrastructure by Hurricane Irma in 2017, a debilitating ransomware attack in 2022 and last year’s months-long electricity crisis.
This was recently followed by a public dispute between the Shareholder’s Representative and Supervisory Board about offering consumers relief on their water and electricity bills. Also keep in mind that means from the Dutch-sponsored Trust Fund administered by the World Bank are being used via implementation agency the National Recovery Program Bureau (NRPB) to make GEBE’s network more resilient, particularly against storms, with continued underground cabling.
Nevertheless, St. Maarten remains the only one of all six Dutch Caribbean islands including Bonaire, St. Eustatius and Saba lacking any meaningful alternative energy development so far. Let’s face it, that is nothing to be proud of.
