EPA Injects $62 Million Into USVI to Move Away from High-Cost Energy, Towards Affordable Solar Solutions

In an Earth Day announcement on Monday, the Environmental Protection Agency announced an award of $62.5 million to the V.I. Energy Office through the Solar for All grant program.

The money, part of the broader $27 billion Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund established under President Biden’s Inflation Reduction Act, will be used to support solar programs that will benefit low-income and disadvantaged communities in the territory.

“We're delivering on President Biden's promise that no community is left behind by investing $7 billion in solar energy projects for over 900,000 households in low-income and disadvantaged communities,” said EPA Administrator Michael Regan, while Region 2 Administrator Lisa Garcia noted that “climate justice means delivering clean energy benefits to disadvantaged communities at the forefront of tackling climate change." Along those lines, the VIEO grant will help communities in the U.S. Virgin Islands access solar power and reduce greenhouse gas emissions.

VIEO Director Kyle Fleming stated, “The US Virgin Islands as a whole are a disadvantaged community that has been historically burdened by centralized fossil fuel-based power systems that suffer from high energy costs, and low reliability. The Virgin Islands Energy Office's successful selection of its Solar for All application has presented a historic opportunity for the territory to fast-track an equitable energy transition that holistically leverages our islands’ most abundant natural resource.”

According to Mr. Fleming, under the Solar for All program, the VIEO will strategically fund the affordable development of single & multi-family residential solar and residential-serving community solar. Associated energy storage deployment will be at the core of these projects to ensure the maximum value of the solar resource is realized and resilience guaranteed. With this funding, VIEO will build upon the success of its former financial incentive programs and development of Micro-Grids to further expand the accessibility of solar by introducing residential-serving community solar within the US Virgin Islands, Mr. Fleming said.