USVI Moving Quickly to 100 Percent Renewable Energy on St. Croix as PSC Approves Two Applications in RFP Process

The V.I. Water and Power Authority is seeking to transition to renewable energy in as large a scale and as quickly as possible, as the authority executes one of the top items on Governor Albert Bryan's agenda. In that regard, the V.I. Public Services Commission on Wednesday approved two qualifying facility applications, one submitted by Haugland V.I. and the other by Leeward Renewable Energy V.I., whose parent company is based in Texas.

At the last PSC board meeting in September, there were questions on whether Haugland V.I. was actually part of the request for proposal (RFP) process as no application had been received. Also at that meeting, it was noted that Leeward Energy was one of the more favorable options based on an initial analysis.

The board delved briefly into both of these applications on Wednesday, noting that while there were similarities, there were several key differences. For starters, Haugland V.I. was a local vendor while Leeward Energy had a global presence, according to board members, though like Leeward Energy, Haugland V.I.'s parent company, New York-based Haugland Group is also a large firm in twelve locations with over 1,000 employees.

Leeward Energy’s application was for two photovoltaic (PV) facilities with battery storage and backup on the island of St. Croix. This would include “slightly bigger” 3 megawatt PV facilities with battery backup. While the locations for these facilities have not been finalized, potential sites have been identified for the project.