The entire island of Saba is powered by solar energy from 2 solar parks and battery storage, that became fully operational in 2019. Saba is one of the Caribbean islands leading the way in renewable energy.

 

Dutch company Ecorus facilitated the photovoltaic (PV) module, while SMA Sunbelt Energy GmbH was responsible for setting up the battery storage. When the weather is sunny enough the island can run on solar power for 8-10 hours, reducing the use of the diesel engines.

 

The key element of the solar parks is the Sunny Central Storage 2200 battery inverter with grid-forming characteristics, which allows the diesel generators in SEC’s power plant to be completely shut down in automatic mode, without compromising the stability of the frequency in the grid. Within seconds, the system compensates for the PV array’s power fluctuations caused by, for example, fast-moving clouds.

 

Technical consultants from The Green World Company and legal consultants of the law firm VanEps Kunneman VanDoorne were instrumental in the successful completion of SEC’s solar parks from the inception to completion. Solar Park 2 was financed by the European Development Fund (EDF) 11 with partial financing by the Dutch Ministry of Economic Affairs and Climate Policy.