After sitting dormant for a year and a half, the Tutu Park wind turbines are tested and ready to spin but face yet another challenge Friday at a PSC hearing.
Overcoming an 18-month period of challenges at the V.I. Public Service Commission, the windmills could have started this week, but the V.I. Water and Power Authority’s outages prevented the turbines going into service so far, according to Dan Mulligan, CEO of Island Wind Power, the company that owns the windmills.
However, a PSC hearing on Friday may take the wind out of Mulligan’s sails. Overshadowing the Island Wind Power team’s elation over the testing is the apprehension of the outcome of the public hearing, which will decide whether Island Wind Power is a public utility.
“We haven’t won yet, we may be out of business Friday,” Mulligan said. “If we were to lose and they designates us a public utility, we’d either have to become a public utility, and I don’t have the ability to do that. I wouldn’t know how to be a public utility.”
WAPA has taken a firm stance on the subject.
“My position is that any company selling power to a third party is a power company in the same manner as WAPA and should be subject to the same regulations,” Hugo Hodge Jr., WAPA’s executive director said.
Island Wind Power and WAPA entered into an interconnection agreement because the turbines need to be “excited” or “touch the grid.” While the turbines do not draw energy from the grid, they use the grid to level the delivery of power.
Unfortunately this means that when WAPA is out, the turbines don’t turn, according to Mulligan.
“The energy coming from the turbines is raw or uneven and needs to be balanced,” according to Island Wind Power’s attorney Emily Sabo, who noted that this is a layman’s explanation.
Spinning into action during testing Wednesday, the three spinning blades pivoted with the changing wind direction. The sound from the blades slicing through the air was like the quiet puffing of a running athlete until the spin speed came up to make the sound a continuous soft whirring.
With the exception of the outages, the testing has gone nearly flawlessly, with one small repair to one of the turbine’s three braking systems, Tutu Park Mall developer John Foster said.
“To have any piece of equipment sitting idle outdoors for nearly two years and then have it operational in less than 48 hours is remarkable,” Mulligan said. “Taking into account the downtime from the power outages, that fact that one turbine is totally operational and the other is 99 percent complete in its testing, is a testament to the quality of the turbines and the work crew.”
When the power went out Wednesday, further testing had to be delayed, Mulligan said. Engineers stayed with the turbines until after 6 p.m. waiting for WAPA to come back on, but power did not come back on in many areas until two hours later.
WAPA’s Units 22 and 13 both tripped Wednesday, causing the outages throughout St. Thomas, and as of 8:20 p.m. power was back on in many areas, WAPA spokesperson Lynnette Moreland said.
The engineers were performing final checks Thursday morning, but power went out again at the mall at 9 on the dot, Mulligan said.
Felix Ray of WAPA’s System Planning group has contacted Island Wind Power this morning to work out testing times around WAPA’s scheduled rotational blackouts, Mulligan said.
This Friday’s PSC public hearing will be held at 11:30 a.m. at Barbel Plaza. Time will be allotted for public comments during the hearing at the discretion of the hearing examiner. Comments may also be submitted in advance of the hearing to Michael S. Moore, PSC Legal Assistant, at msmvi@hotmail.com or via fax at 340-774-4971.
All comments submitted in writing will be provided to the parties and hearing examiner in these matters according to a May 6 release from the commission.
