Tourism Industry in Curacao Paralyzed by Massive Blackout

The tourist factories of Jan Thiel came to a complete standstill on Wednesday as the island-wide blackout left Curaçao without power for more than 24 hours.

Obviously during the summer heat Curacao does not have the capacity to provide power to the mass tourism industry. Restaurants were closed, luxurious nightlife was extinguished, and even some local supermarkets eventually ran out of ice-cubes stock.

For some foreign visitors, it was an evening of improvisation. A Brazilian couple exchanging vows on the beach at Hotel Papagayo ended up celebrating their wedding by candlelight, with the help of a small diesel generator.

According to Aqualectra, the blackout was triggered by a chain reaction that began with the utility company’s Dutch provided wind turbines.

Technical director Rudolf Garmes explained that sudden shifts in wind speed—violent gusts followed by calm—caused a major imbalance in the grid. It led to a domino effect that shut down all power plants.

Restoration proved difficult. Each time a neighborhood was reconnected, the demand surged higher than expected, leading to further outages.

Prime Minister Gilmar Pisas (MFK) urged residents during an emergency press conference not to switch on all appliances —especially air conditioners—at once.

Once stability is restored, everything can go back on. But to ensure a smooth recovery, we must first work step by step.

The blackout disrupted far more than households and tourism. Supermarkets and small shops scrambled to preserve perishable goods.

Many businesses lacked backup generators, and solar systems often proved insufficient to cover a full day without grid power.

Losses mounted quickly. One hotel reported losing a freezer stocked with 2,000 guilders’ worth of meat, while Landhuis Bonavista estimated 1,500 guilders in damages after freezers and a cooling unit failed.

If this is just our loss, imagine what it means for all the other accommodations, one owner lamented.

On social media, frustration ran high, with residents criticizing the island’s continued vulnerability to blackouts in 2025.

The last time a similar chain reaction crippled the grid was in 2023, when Dutch experts were called in to investigate the capacity of the electricity system in Curacao. 

Energy expert and former director of Aqualectra, Anthon Casperson, argues that yesterday’s blackout in Curaçao could have been prevented with up-to-date distribution grid protection. He believes wind speed cannot be a determining factor for a power outage.

Casperson points out that a report on the 2023 blackouts had already advised Aqualectra to work on better grid protection. I believe this report can still be found on Aqualectra’s website.

The former director emphasizes that integrating large amounts of renewable energy into the distribution system requires continuous monitoring and simulation of grid dynamics. Based on these studies, grid protection systems must be continually adjusted.

If this were the case, this blackout could have been avoided. At most, situations of load shedding in the event of a temporary shortage of production capacity would have occurred.

Curacao Chronicle / Curacao.nu / ABC Flash Point News 2025.