No Garbage: Waste-to-Energy Project Seeks to Transform St. John's Environmental Landscape
On Tuesday, during the Public Services Commission’s monthly meeting, a proposal from Advanced Sustainable Technologies Limited to construct a waste-to-energy plant on St. John was once again before commissioners.
2024-06-12 12:44:27 - VI News Staff
AST Cleantech, as the company calls itself, has been proposing the build as a pilot project for some time now. In re-introducing the matter to the PSC, AST attorney Boyd Sprehn noted that the plan is to “produce a little under one megawatt of electricity as a baseload unit while taking care of virtually all of the waste generated on St. John.” Before construction of the plant can move forward, however, agreements must be secured from both the V.I. Waste Management Authority and the V.I. Water and Power Authority.
AST Group CEO Dan Levin said that final design plans for the waste-to-energy plant were almost completed, and that the company had secured the financial backing of a U.S. bank for the full capital expenditure needed for the project. Engineering partners had already been secured, as was land in Florida that will be used to fabricate, construct and test the unit before it is shipped to the Virgin Islands. “We expect that in the coming months, we’ll start the actual construction and fabrication of the unit,” Mr. Levin anticipated. Within 10 months, the unit is expected to be ready to be fired up in Florida, followed by another two months’ worth of testing. “Overall, the system should be at the St. John transfer station in roughly 12 to 13 months,” Mr. Levin projected. “Startup should happen by the end of 2025. Before the end of the year,” he estimated. He told commissioners that he expected the unit to cost roughly $10 million to install.