NEW UNITS WILL REDUCE COSTS AND IMPROVE RELIABILITY

The Virgin Islands Water and Power Authority and the Office of the Governor announced on Friday that, in addition to the solar micro-grid project planned for St. Croix, and the wind energy project planned for St. Thomas, HUD Community Development Block Grants will be used to fund the acquisition of up to seven new generators for the Randolph Harley Power Plant on St. Thomas.

Requests for Proposals (RFP’s) for these new, state-of-the-art generators will be issued before the end of 2018 and the new units are expected to be commissioned within a year.

The new generators will reduce fuel consumption by at least 30% when compared to the older, inefficient generating units now being used to power the St. Thomas - St. John district. These new generators will reduce fuel, leasing and maintenance costs, and will substantially improve reliability.

As previously disclosed, the St. Croix solar micro-grid project will contribute to lower costs and enable the west end of St. Croix to have power during short duration service interruptions at the Estate Richmond Power Plant.

The acquisition of the new generating units represents an approximate $65 million investment in modernizing power generation on St. Thomas.

“Both the Authority and the Office of the Governor will continue to work with federal partners to identify additional renewable and generation projects for St. Croix, St. John and St. Thomas in an effort to drive down the cost of electricity and improve reliability and resiliency,” said WAPA Executive Director and CEO Lawrence. J. Kupfer.