New Generators Projected to Lower Energy Costs Arrive in USVI, WAPA Says They Won't Be Ready for Use Until 2023

Vernon Alexander, director of project management at the Virgin Islands Water and Power Authority has told the Public Services Commission that the four Wartsila units or generators which arrived in the Virgin Islands last week will not be operational until February 2023.

“We will be able to achieve substantial installation, substantial completion by December of 2022, and commercial operation by February 2023,” Mr. Alexander told PSC commissioners during the commission's regular meeting Friday.

Noel Hodge, acting chief executive officer of WAPA had earlier informed the commission that the new Wartsila units had arrived in the territory. “They arrived in St. Thomas, those are four, 9 milliwatts Wartsila units which are being funded through a [U.S. Dept. of] Housing and Urban Development grant,” he said.

“Those are highly efficient units that will burn LPG and diesel and the heat rate is below 10,000 power transfer units (PTU) per megawatt hour. Those will have a great impact once prices are stabilized,” Mr. Hodge informed the commission.

Acknowledging the new units will provide better and more reliable power, PSC Commissioner Raymond Williams inquired about the timeline for installation, and it was at that moment the PSC learned that it will be 15 months after its arrival.

Mr. Hodge said the plan is to commission all of the generators at the same time and among the delaying reasons is a battery storage component that is involved in this project.

Explaining the 15-month period that will cover from installation to commissioning, Mr. Alexander said, “We have to install several auxiliaries, not just the units being onsite but there are several other auxiliaries we have to do and then to do other work which include the building of tanks, storage tanks for fuel in case we have any disruptions,” he told the PSC commissioner who felt that 15 months was a long time.

“We need to do the demolishing, we need to do the construction and make other changes…The first one took 18 months, this one will take 15 months. Some preliminary electrical work has been done but all of the electrical work has not been completed. The civil work has to be done and other mechanical installations have to be done as well, so some of the work is complete but the majority are left to be done,” said Mr. Alexander, who averaged that no more than 20 percent of the preparatory work for the generators was completed.