Finnish company Wartsila has commissioned a 6MW energy management and storage system project for ContourGlobal Bonaire on the Caribbean island of Bonaire.
Completion of the facility means the island no longer has to curtail wind resources and has nearly doubled renewable energy penetration.
The project also prepares the island’s energy system for additional capacity to accommodate peak demand during the tourist season, Wartsila said.
The system is the beginning of a longer-term plan to fully modernise the island’s system and add additional capacity and renewable energy generation to the grid.
Next phases will see the replacement of outdated thermal technology with five new engines and the addition of more wind and solar to the generation mix.
ContourGlobal’s entire island grid is managed and operated by Wartsila subsidiary Greensmith GEMS advanced software platform.
ContourGlobal Caribbean assets chief operating officer Giorgio Narminio said: “During our commissioning tests, several load rejections were tested, including loss of wind, loss of engines and loss of demand, and in every circumstance GEMS instantaneously tracked and maintained the quality of the generation avoiding the load shedding of the grid.
“This is just one example of how this project will improve operations through automation while helping the island avoid blackouts, achieve greater efficiencies and use more wind power.”