Dear Source:
The most important talk on the street these days is the high cost of energy and gasoline. The cost of energy (electricity) is so high that many businesses have complained that they may have to either curtail their business practices or even get out of business completely. Gasoline prices have not fallen on St Thomas and St John despite the huge decreases happening across the United States. St Croix prices have always been traditionally lower than St Thomas and St John because HOVENSA is located there.
The cost of creating electricity in the Virgin Islands is approaching being the highest in the world, primarily because of WAPA's complete dependence on burning oil to create it. This use of oil is the reason why energy costs are so high.
WAPA has announced that they will be spending almost $8 million for a new waste recovery boiler and will go into the bond market to do it. According to WAPA this could save up to $15 million a year to ratepayers, minus the payback on the cost of the system. Where it is commendable that WAPA is finally taking steps to help save energy costs, it may be a case of too little, too late.
WAPA is still using oil as its method of producing energy. There have been proposals recently that would have opened an existing coal-burning co-generation plant on St Croix to help with the production of energy but WAPA turned it down. Using the coke from HOVENSA was considered but WAPA's boilers cannot, at this time, burn that fuel. In the past, other such proposals have been presented to WAPA but all have been turned down, including the fastest-rising trend in the USA-net metering. Net-metering allows residential and small commercial producers of energy (such as solar, wind) to "sell" it back to WAPA. The method is simple-attached the self-produced energy back into WAPA lines and the meter turns backwards. Generally, this provides a means of reducing a customers bills but it is not a significant supply of energy in and of itself. It is possible though, for a homeowner, for example, who uses no WAPA power and is completely self-contained, to actually "sell" to WAPA any excess power it may provide, and get a check too. So far, WAPA has rejected this idea but instead told customers that self-production is a good alternative but refuses to entertain a "buy-back" from anyone.
Since WAPA has continuously rejected alternative energy proposals, even though the VI government has mandated that they do, we still face an uncertain future in terms of cost of energy. In the USA many steps have been taken to reduce the cost of producing energy, including net-metering. Several states have endorsed or even mandated such practices and the trend continues to grow.
The newly emerging trend toward co-generation using recyclable materials is clearly the biggest step toward both energy reduction and disposal of waste. Where this practice is certainly not new (many cities and counties across the USA have been recycling for over 30 years), the trend toward creating energy and co-generating has been the major topic in terms of lessening dependence on oil.
Throughout the USA, private companies have emerged that accept trash and other products to produce a variety of recyclable products, including the generation of electricity.
On St Croix and St Thomas, the EPA has mandated that the government come up with a plan to reduce the mountains of waste, citing environmental and health issues. Recently, the subject of how to get rid of used tires has been at the forefront. The EPA has said that the burning of old tires is the equal in BTU production of oil, and 25% greater than burning coal or coke. Old tires can also be chipped to produce asphalt and as bases for athletic fields. The burning of trash produces far less BTU's but the by-products are certainly useful as recyclable material, including metals and plastics. What we need is an enterprise that can do the variety of things it takes to remove trash, reduce health concerns and also produce energy in large quantities.
Trash-to-energy companies exist that see the Virgin Islands as the perfect place to install relatively small industrial plants which can take trash products, sort them into energy producers, metallic by-products and even use the sludge from the process to re-cycle into other products. These products include: filler for Portland cement, gypsum, filler for asphalt paving and other products that are the residue of burning to create energy.
It may be wise for the government to consider future proposals or even seek out companies who are expert at these endeavors. The government should pursue available land for this purpose on both St Croix and St Thomas, and possibly even on St John as the population there grows steadily and the ability to eliminate trash becomes an even greater problem.
WAPA is a pseudo-governmental agency that requires over-site from the government, usually through the Public Services Commission. Since it is a governmental agency, the government itself should take the lead and mandate that WAPA provide better solutions for ratepayers. Having trash-to-energy plants seems like the logical choice provided we can find ways to keep them within EPA standards in every respect.
We can only hope that the next Governor and other public leaders see that the ratepayers of the Virgin Islands are overwhelmed with debt because the most basic of government services cost so much. Yes, cost of gasoline and oil will drop soon but there is no guarantee that it will not rise again in the near future. We must act to reduce our dependency on expensive fuels now. New ways to create energy and rid ourselves of trash is innovative and the Virgin Islands is the perfect example of why it has become such a fast-growing industry. The time to act is now.
Paul Devine
St. John
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