Christiansted Boardwalk the Last in Major Grant Program

Christiansted boardwalk had new lights installed in May. The 50 LED (light emitting diodes) lights with solar panels were assembled by Eco Innovations VI, of St. Croix and installed by Benton Construction Company of St. Croix. The total cost of the project was $390,000.

The project is the last major project administrated by the V.I Energy Office with funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009. The Energy Office granted $965,000 to Department of Public Works. DPW used part of those funds last year to change the traffic lights in the territory to LEDs. Over three-fourths of the old lights on the boardwalk were not working. The LEDs will use about a third of the power that the old lights used and the electricity will come from the solar panels.

Don Buchanan, media information specialist at the Energy Office, said, “The boardwalk lighting project is special because it brings light, with renewable energy, to an area that is attractive to both residents and tourists in the Virgin Islands. However, we should point out that this is just one project in a series of projects where the Virgin Islands government has been able to use funds from the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act to cut the territory’s dependency on fossil fuel and cut its electricity bill. We still have a way to go to reach our goal of cutting our fossil fuel consumption 60 per cent by 2025, but projects like this bring us one step closer.”

The total amount of ARRA funds administered through the Energy Efficiency Conservation Block Grant by the Energy Office was $9,593,000.

The Virgin Islands Water and Power Authority also turned to highly-efficient, LED lights when spending the money granted to it by the Energy Office.  Its street lighting upgrade two years ago involved replacing 972 high pressure sodium street lights with LED street lights to reduce the power consumption of the lights. Each LED streetlight uses less than half of the power of the light it replaces. The second activity taken on by WAPA with its $2.5 million, energy grant was the installation of a Street Light Management System. The system notifies WAPA personnel of any street lights that are on during the day and allows them to turn the light off remotely. The system also provides notification of any lights that are not working at night and graphically shows where the failed light is. This allows repair crews to go directly to the failed light and not have to drive around at night looking for failed lights. 

The Virgin Islands Port Authority (VIPA) was awarded $2,949,000 in ARRA funds administered by the Energy Office. The VIPA project was the installation of a solar panel system to reduce the energy bills at the Cyril E King airport. The system, which is 452 kilowatts and connected to WAPA for net-metering was completed late in 2011. The array is ground mounted and is made up of over 1800 PV panels. The system is working and providing even more energy savings than had been projected.

The Waste Management Authority (WMA) was awarded $3,014,046 under the ARRA programs administered by the V.I. Energy Office. This money was used to install a landfill gas-to-energy system at the Bovoni landfill on St. Thomas. The methane gas that is collected is used to power an 815 kilowatt generator. The WMA will be compensated for the power fed into the grid through a Power Purchase Agreement with WAPA and those funds will be used to help pay the electrical bills from other WMA facilities. A second generator will be installed in the future once the landfill is fully capped and there is additional methane available.

Buchanan added, “The Energy Office is proud of the success of these project, but we know it could not have happened if not for the hard work of our partners – Waste Management, WAPA, Public Works, and the Port Authority.

Nature Conservancy Seeks Environmental Solution for Climate Change

While a few people still deny climate change, around three dozen government officials and environmentalists who accept the science predicting higher temperatures and higher sea level gathered at the Emerald Beach Resort on St. Thomas on Tuesday and Wednesday to discuss ways the islands can adapt to climate changes.

The Nature Conservancy, with a host of collaborators, sponsored the two-day workshop called USVI Climate Change Eco-based Adaption Workshop; Allowing for Resilient Communities.

Tyler Smith of the Center for Marine and Environmental Studies at the University of the Virgin Islands addressed the two severe bleaching events which have damaged coral in recent years.

Lloyd Gardner of the Virgin Islands Foundation for Development Planning talked about fish migration and changing currents. “We have to think this through in detail,” Gardner said. “We have to get the planning side right.”

Roy Watlington of Caribbean Coastal Ocean Observing System discussed what the most recent data and measurements tell about the environment.

Although there were presentations by people like Kasey Jacobs of Caribbean Landscape Conservation about climate change models in-progress or available for the Virgin Islands, there was no debate that climate change should not be a concern.

The stated purpose of the Virgin Islands workshop was threefold:
- to document the adaptation to climate change initiatives in the territory that are completed or under way and to identify projects necessary for short-term planning and preparation;
- to demonstrate methods on the use of Geographical Information Systems to identify optimal areas for implementing ecosystem-based adaptation based on ecological and socioeconomic criteria;
- and to develop nature-based solutions to address changes to the coastal and marine environment in the territory.

“We really, really had some good discussions,” said Jeanne Brown of the Nature Conservancy, who moderated Wednesday. “We learned a lot from each other. We now have a better idea of where to go in the future.”

Areas mentioned where possible eco-based adaption strategies could be adopted included Coral Bay on St. John and Salt River Bay on St. Croix and the primary island harbors. Eco-based strategies might include restoring mangrove forest or restoring the reefs.

Criteria set forth for the eco-based projects being discussed included how vulnerable the areas were to storm surge and rising ocean levels and the impact that would have on populations. A project going forward on Union Island in the Grenadines was discussed.

The National Resource Council in 2011 reported that average sea level change since 1990 has been 8 centimeters.

William Linzey, assistant director of the Virgin Islands Territorial Emergency Management Agency, gave an update on the Territorial Hazards Mitigation Plan. He pointed out that though ocean levels were rising, vertical land movements were actually causing some land masses to rise higher above sea level.

Linzey said he would like to see models specifically making predictions about the Virgin Islands include information about continental shelf movement. Most in attendance agreed that information would be valuable.

The earth's atmosphere is made up with 78 percent nitrogen and 21 percent oxygen. So-called greenhouse gases make up less than 1 percent. However, because of their molecular structure greenhouse gases capture and hold heat instead of reflecting it back in space.

St. Croix Agriculture Fair

The St. Croix Agriculture Fair  is Feb. 16, 17 and 18 at the Fair Grounds.
The Energy Office will have a booth so residents can come and ask questions about energy issues. The theme of the Energy Office Booth this year is "What's Your Consumption?"

Rebates Available on Solar Water Heaters

The Virgin Islands Energy Office is again offering rebates to residents for purchasing solar water heaters from local vendors.

The program, beginning Sept. 10, will cover residential, solar water heaters of 120 gallons or less, approved by the Solar Ratings and Certification Corporation. A household can receive a maximum of two solar water heaters. The rebate will be for $1,250 for heaters with an OG-300 rating and up to $1,000 for those with an OG-100 rating. Funds are limited and rebates will be given on a first-come, first-serve basis as long as funds are available.

Residents are advised to contact the Energy Office at 4101 Mars Hill on St. Croix (713-8436) or in Tutu Park Mall on St. Thomas (714-8436) prior to making their purchase. Supervising the rebate program is Leila Muller. Her email address is Leila.muller@eo.vi.gov and her phone line is 713-8436, ext. 3606.

MESA students to See Alternative Energy Work

The Virgin Islands Energy Office is taking 12 students from the Math Environmental Science Academy to visit alternative energy sites on July 6. The sites include the St. Croix Reformed Church wind turbine site and a residents home where solar power is used not only to power the house, it has also been used to power the resident’s vehicle. Owners of the alternative energy installations will answer questions from the students. An engineer from the Energy Office and a wind expert will also be available to answer questions from students and the media.

The first stop is the wind turbine at 9:30 a.m.; the residence visit is scheduled for 11 a.m. For further information call Don Buchanan at 690.9969.
The Energy Office also has another event in July — July 18 when officials talk about the new solar installation at the St. Croix Educational Complex.

Residential Solar Starting to Thrive in Virgin Islands

Over the past year, Virgin Islands residents, businesses and government facilities have been going solar like never before. The federally-funded, Energy Office grants that helped fund many solar energy projects (such as the three in the photographs attached) are no longer available. But even without rebates, some solar photovoltaic (PV) dealers in the Virgin Islands report that business remains brisk and residents continue to call and ask how they can get PV systems installed at their homes.

The economics of having a PV system in the Virgin Islands are looking better and better as fossil fuel becomes more costly. After all, once the system is paid for, the power generated is pretty well free. While the initial investment remains a problem for some, the amount of up-front capital needed to go solar has gotten smaller since the initiation of the net-metering program in the territory a little over five years ago. Also the announcement of the closing of Hovensa has sparked additional interest in alternative energy. Kelly Gloger, Managing Partner, Solar Delivered, says, “We have seen a quadrupling of monthly sales since the January announcement that HOVENSA would be closing.”

Gary Udhwani, CEO of Eco Innovations, says, “Systems have come down so much in price that the rebate does not make any difference anymore.”  He adds that he believes the rebate program was to get the solar business off the ground and that it accomplished that.

Instead of buying batteries for storage, residents in the net metering program can send excess power to the Water and Power Authority (WAPA) and retrieve it when they need it—essentially using WAPA as their battery. About 100 residents are now taking part in the net-metering program. The program is limited to 20-kilowatt (kW) systems for residential customers and 100-kW systems for commercial customers. In the aggregate, WAPA is allowing net-metering systems to total 5 megawatts (MW) on St. Croix and 10 MW on St. Thomas.

WAPA must set limits on renewable generation because of the need to maintain the stability of the power distribution system as increasing levels of renewables are brought online. Unlike traditional sources of energy, which are constantly available or “dispatchable,” wind and solar resources are intermittent in nature. So when the wind doesn’t blow or the sun doesn’t shine, keeping the lights on becomes more of a challenge—especially for small island grids.

Presently, those 5 MW and 10 MW limits seem a long way off, but they may well become a concern for WAPA in a year or two. Just six  years ago, the Nature Conservancy’s 7.9-kW PV system in Little Princess on St. Croix was recognized as the largest in the Virgin Islands. Now, it is not even close. Installation of systems larger than 8 kilowatts have become weekly events in the islands.

Something else new is that residents, with just a couple clicks of the mouse, can get real-time data on how PV systems are producing in the Virgin Islands. The Energy Office has a Web page that provides links to pages providing that information. The webpage is located at: (http://www.vienergy.org/AAenergy/pages/solar%20power.html). For example:

·        The Enphase Energy (https://enlighten.enphaseenergy.com/public_systems) website features a clickable map that links to information about 24 different solar system installations in the Virgin Islands, including present power production and the history of power production at each site. Also displayed is information about how much pollution is being reduced by using the solar panels instead of burning fossil fuel to produce the power. People concerned about the environment may be pleasantly surprised by how much carbon offset their neighbors have achieved.

For people who want to know how much power is produced by the largest PV system in the islands, the one at the Cyril E. King Airport on St. Thomas, they can go to http://www.alsoenergy.com/satcon/PowerLobby.aspx?sid=26542&source=Satcon&lang=en-US.  This system is estimated to produce enough electricity to save the Port Authority roughly $900 a day on its WAPA bill. Rough calculation, shows the system producing about 644,000 kWh’s per year.

·        The Montessori  Academy on St. Thomas has a website that incorporates the data from its PV systems into a learning tool.  It can be found at http://www.vimsia.org/Home/green-school/solar-4-schools

·        Students at the St. Croix Educational Complex will have such a tool available to them when they return to classes in the Fall. One World Sustainable is donating a 1-kW PV system and will be installing it at the school this summer.

Although wind energy market has not taken off as quickly as the solar market in the Virgin Islands, it too has seen growth, and there is a site where residents can get real-time data on an active wind project. The data comes from the turbine installed at the St. Croix Reformed Church. That site is located at http://stcroixreformed.org/our-wind-turbine/.

EDIN-USVI Workshop June 2012

Energy experts will be convergin at the Bjerget House, 56-58 Hill Street, Christiansted, St. Croix, USVI on June 11. This workshop will focus on ongoing projects and strategies for achieving 60% clean energy by 2025 as part of the Energy Development in Island Nations (EDIN) Virgin Islands (USVI) project launched in 2010 with the support of the U.S. Department of Energy (DOE), the U.S. Department of the Interior (DOI), and the National Renewable Energy Laboratory (NREL). The EDIN partners will meet with members of the USVI Energy Action Team, project working groups, local VIenergize Partners, and other community clean energy champions at the U.S. Viking/Bjerget House on St Croix. The historic site is receiving energy efficiency upgrades this spring, thanks to a DOE grant administered by the Virgin Islands Energy Office as part of the Wise Investments Save Energy (WISE) program. The workshop will be followed by a 5 p.m. cocktail reception hosted by EDIN-USVI VIenergize Partner Quality Electric Supply (QES) to kick off its Energy Week events, including the QES Renewable Energy and Water Production Conference.