WAPA clarifies solar agreements, OKs underground contract

ST. CROIX — The Virgin Islands Water and Power Authority’s governing board convened on Thursday morning amid a continuing state of emergency over the territory’s energy crisis.

Though scheduled to expire last Thursday, WAPA Chief Executive Officer Karl Knight told board members that the state of emergency had been extended to Oct. 19 — and possibly until Nov. 19. The board began Thursday’s meeting by entering into executive session to discuss personnel and legal matters. Afterward, members approved amendments to the utility’s energy storage agreements at VI Electron’s solar farms in estates Petronella and Hogensborg.

Knight told board members that the amendments were needed because of a “lack of clarity” over payment terms related to energy coming from the solar farms and energy coming from batteries. Under the interconnection agreement, Knight said, power coming from the solar farm is to be sold to WAPA at 10.9 cents per kilowatt-hour and energy from batteries is to be sold at 5.45 cents per kilowatt-hour. Left alone, Knight said the agreement posed “an open question as to whether or not there’s a possibility that we would be paying twice for the same electron.”