Residents hear from Clean Coalition director Craig Lewis.
With its single electrical distribution grid, St. John is an ideal location for large-scale solar energy generation, officials from the V.I. Energy Office, V.I. Water and Power Authority and a national non-profit told about 40 people at a Thursday night, August 30, meeting.
Clean Local Energy Accessible Now (Clean) Coalition is a non-profit organization dedicated to implementing renewable energy. The group, which has implemented five renewable energy projects across the U.S., has an ambitious plan to implement a photovoltaic system which would account for 25 percent of the energy generated on St. John and be operational by the end of 2013.
The program is projected to cost around $45 million and would implement tied in photovoltaic systems across the island along with battery storage with a goal of creating 25 percent of the energy generated on St. John from solar.
VIEO officials plan to apply for a competitive grant from the Department of Commerce to cover part of the cost of implementing the program, according to VIEO Director Karl Knight.
Before VIEO moves forward with the renewable energy program, however, community support is needed, Knight explained.
“We have a promising and exciting opportunity to discuss tonight,” said the VIEO director. “We are going for competitive grant funding so we have to make a strong case about why we need this. There are two compelling areas of the project; the impact on energy costs and the reliability and stability of the electrical grid during a natural disaster.”
“Before we go forward, we must make sure that we have a willing community,” said Knight. “We are facing a logistical challenge to site the photovoltaics on St. John.”
The program would essentially create a micro-grid for St. John and is expected to improve electric stability for the island, while creating jobs and reducing electric costs, according to officials.
“St. John has a single substation and is a distribution grid which makes it a very convenient location to be able to get to 25 percent penetration,” said Clean Coalition executive director Craig Lewis. “Currently electricity is generated on St. Thomas and then transmitted along a submarine line to the St. John substation.”
“St. John is at risk,” said Lewis. “If St. Thomas goes down, then St. John goes down. When St. Thomas comes up back, St. John is at the end of the line and is the last to come back up.”
Generating energy locally from photovoltaic systems would reduce the frequency of brown-outs and black-outs and have a positive economic impact for the island, explained Lewis.
“Part of this is to improve the electric grid here so we would at least maintain and likely improve electric reliability,” he said.
The program would create jobs and attract significant private investments while meeting the island’s energy needs partially with local solar power instead of imported oil, Lewis explained.
The solar power plan would also stabilize electricity prices since WAPA would buy the solar energy at a 20-year fixed rate, according to officials.
While the program would reduce electric costs from about 24-cents per kilowatt hour to about 16.25-cents per kilowatt hour, using solar would also hedge against rising oil costs, explained WAPA director Hugo Hodge.
“You would be looking at a three to five percent reduction but also would be hedging against the increases we are going to have in oil,” said Hodge.
While several residents questioned the program’s ambitions time frame and the ability to find enough roof and ground space on St. John to create 12 megawatts of solar power, it’s important to look at projects which move the territory away from its dependency on oil, explained St. John resident Don Porter.
“If WAPA has to spend $100 million more on oil next year, that could kill the economy,” said Porter. “We have to look at all projects that could get us off or move us away from oil. A project like this one means our life, or we won’t be able to live the lifestyle we all enjoy today.”
The economic implications are exactly why VIEO is seeking partial funding for the solar project from the Department of Commerce, Knight added.
“Yes, this is an energy issue, but it’s also an economic issue,” said the VIEO director. “Oil dependency is about to cripple our economy and that’s why we need this.”
Even if the system doesn’t reach its 25 percent goal, any portion of the energy generated on St. John coming from solar would be an improvement, Lewis explained.
“We picked 25 percent because we’re confident we can reach that goal,” said Lewis. “But if we don’t get enough sites and we only get to 17 percent, that is still a good thing.”
VIEO officials want to hear what the St. John community thinks about the proposed solar generating program. Knight encouraged residents to call him at the VIEO office on St. Thomas at 714-8436, on St. Croix at 713-8436 or via emaiil at karl.knight@eo.vi.gov.
