The Virgin Islands Energy Office is pleased to announce that it has selected 29 applicants to receive solar and battery energy storage systems through the Community Electrical Innovations grant program, pending further environmental review and assessments. The successful applicants represent a diverse cross section of the territory’s network of community focused organizations who fill in gaps in care and provide essential services for some of our most vulnerable neighbors.
VIEO has already begun carrying out site assessments at a number of daycare and Head Start facilities, and estimates that the solar and battery systems will serve more than 500 children once commissioned. Each of the systems are projected to provide up to 50% in electrical utility savings for their respective sites, while also supporting routine operations during business hours in the event of a power outage.
As well as child care providers and education centers, VIEO has also conditionally approved CEI applications submitted by a senior resource activity center, senior living facilities, healthcare facilities, soup kitchens and transitional housing for the homeless, and a vocational training institution. VIEO is working on installing the systems in batches to streamline procurement and construction, and expects that by early spring work on the majority of childcare facilities should be concluded. With more complex systems slated to follow.
Once completed CEI will embed resilience into the community focused organizations in the Virgin Islands, greatly enhancing their ability to deliver services to vulnerable populations uninterrupted by power outages. While also allowing them to reinvest money that would otherwise have been spent on utility bills into their operations and social programs. The battery backup systems installed at the sites, which cumulatively are estimated to have a capacity of 1 MWh, will also be enrolled into a virtual power plant program that is being designed by VIEO which will have the potential to greatly improve the stability of the territory’s electrical grid.
Adding hardware to the territory’s grid that can help lessen our reliance on costly imported fossil fuels and improve the reliability of electrical transmission for all is a core component of VIEO’s long term strategy. By adding a projected 268 kW of solar, and approximately 1 MWh of battery storage, CEI will expand the foundation of grid level solar and battery projects that VIEO has already established in the territory.
A foundation that includes the St. Croix Educational Complex (SCEC) Microgrid project completed in April of 2024, whose 150 kW of solar plus 220 kWh of battery not only helps supply the energy that support’s the daily education of nearly 900 students, but also stands ready to provide succor to the wider community through its emergency shelter. The WTJX Mountain Top Microgrid project on St. Thomas, which is slated to be constructed by Caribe Sun Energy pending contract finalization, will also alleviate demand on the grid by installing 70 kW of solar panels plus 500 kWh of battery. And achieve the goal of hardening a vital communication link between the territory and the mainland that in the aftermath of catastrophic weather represents one of the most durable and widely accessible ways to distribute critical information.
VIEO thanks the community for its robust response to the application window it opened in July for CEI submissions. CEI is funded thanks to a Community Development Block Grant – Disaster Recovery grant awarded to the territory by the Department of Housing and Urban Development, and administered by VIEO as a subrecipient of the Virgin Islands Housing Finance Authority
St. Croix Source
Local government
