Energy Production History

Meeting Aruba’s increasing demand for energy has kept WEB Aruba in a constant state of growth and change

Introduction Integrated Boiler System

1958

Development Wind Park Vader Piet

2004
The increasing price of heavy fuel oil drove WEB Aruba to study alternative proven and new technologies, to produce drinking water and generate electricity, at a much higher efficiency and to lessen our dependence on fuel oil. In 2004 a start was made with the development of a wind turbine Park at Vader Piet.

Introduction RECIP Engines (RECIP I)

2006
In 2006 the first three “Reciprocating Internal Combustion Engines”, the so called RECIPs came into service. This has elevated the reliability of WEB Aruba in power generation with a new and independent powerhouse with 24 Megawatt capacity.

Introduction RECIP II (second powerhouse)

2008
In 2008 WEB Aruba expanded the power generation with an additional new 24 megawatt  RECIP powerhouse.

Vader Piet Windpark Completed

2009
The construction of the wind turbine park at Vader Piet was completed at the end of 2009.

Introduction RECIP III

2012
In 2012 WEB Aruba commissioned a third RECIP plant with an installed capacity of 45.2 MW, replacing another part of the integrated boiler systems.

Battery Energy Storage (BESS)

2017
In line with WEB Aruba’s renewable energy strategy (ARES), WEB initiated several projects to store renewable energy. These projects play an important role in maintaining the power grid stable and efficient. The Battery Energy Storage (BESS) was a pilot project to conduct research to collect reliable, site specific data to help determine the different ways in which battery energy storage can be integrated into WEB’s existing renewable energy mix and power grid.

Flywheel Park

2018
The Flywheel project is another project to help maintain the power grid stable and efficient. It consists of 20 Flywheels with an energy storage capacity of 5 MW during 12 minutes.

Solar Photovoltaic System Completed

2018
In 2018 WEB commissioned its Sunrise Solar Park at Lago Heights; a large scale solar PV park, consisting of a large scale solar ground mounted PV system, with an installed capacity of 7.5MW.

Intelligent Generation Management System (IGMS)

2021
The IGMS maintains the power supply to ELMAR stable and facilitates faster action during interruptions or imbalance in the power demand. IGMS regulates the frequency of all equipment online and absorbs fluctuations between energy production and demand.

Introduction RECIP IV

2022
In June 2022 WEB Aruba commissioned a fourth RECIP plant, replacing all integrated boiler systems. The RECIP IV plant consists of 6 RECIP engines with a joined installed capacity of 102 MW. With the take-over of this fourth RECIP plant, 64 years of thermal energy production comes to an end. WEB Aruba now produces energy with RECIP engines that will be able to run both on Heavy Fuel Oil and on Natural Gas in the future. With the commissioning of RECIP IV, WEB Aruba takes a step closer to reaching its objective to lower its energy production with fossil fuels to 50% and production with renewable energy to 50%. This contributes to WEB Aruba’s vision of a cleaner, greener and HFO free production.