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HomeNewsArchivesWAPA Board Approves Filing of ‘Feed in Tariff’ Proposal

WAPA Board Approves Filing of ‘Feed in Tariff’ Proposal

During a special meeting Monday, V.I. Water and Power Authority board members authorized its executive director to file with the Public Services Commision a “feed in tariff” petition to determine the rates at which qualified renewable energy producers will be able to sell power back to authority.

The “feed in tariff” proposal was introduced in April by Sen. Craig Barshinger and has since become law. Under the law, household-sized solar power producers will still be able to sell excess power WAPA at retail price through the authority’s net metering program, but larger producers will receive the smaller feed in tariff payment reflecting WAPA’s costs. By law, WAPA is required to file its feed in tariff petition to the PSC by Tuesday.

“The ultimate rate will come through the PSC’s process,” WAPA Executive Director Hugo Hodge said during Monday’s meeting. “That’s what the law calls for as well, but we have to do the initial filing for the process to take place.”

WAPA officials added that the proposal would help the authority meet its renewable energy goals and would resolve issues with the current net metering limits.

Net metering was capped at 15 MW territorywide in 2009, with a 10 MW cap on St. Thomas and a 5 MW cap on St. Croix. A year ago, the growth of net metering was making news but reaching the caps was still distant. Since then, St. Croix has either connected or contracted to connect about 4.1 megawatts of the five available. St. Thomas is “fast approaching the 10,” Hodge said Monday.

Hodge has said that the caps cannot be increased without putting a physical strain on the electric grid. More alternative power during the day would not save WAPA fuel and would start to cost more and more, as WAPA is forced to stop using its energy-saving waste-heat generator. Ultimately, other ratepayers have to make up the cost, subsidizing the net metering, he said.

Amendments to the net metering program were proposed at the same time as the “feed in tariff” but have not yet been passed, and Hodge added Monday that he does not know how one will work without the other.

“The net metering changes really addressed everything above 10 KWs and really left a portion of net metering available for those smaller systems, which I think are the ones you should have it for anyway,” Hodge explained after the meeting. “But they are not seeing the benefit right now; it’s being taken up by commercial entities and larger systems.”

According to board members, the law also requires the authority to increase by 5 percent the amount of power generated from renewables: 20 percent by 2015, 25 percent by 2020 and 30 percent by 2025. Hodge said this part of the law might end up hurting the territory in the long run. Renewable energy systems set up in places like Hawaii, he said, need more expensive equipment to generate cleaner energy and, in instances where systems are running at peak capacity, using renewables might not be as efficient.

Even in perfect conditions, a solar system’s efficiency would drop drastically due to factors such as cloud coverage, which Hodge said is common in the territory. WAPA’s existing equipment would work to cover the demand and would, in turn, cause the system to trip.

Attending the meeting were board members Elizabeth Armstrong, Alicia Barnes, Wayne Biggs, Cheryl Boynes Jackson, Donald Francois, Gerald Groner, Karl Knight, Noel Loftus and Juanita Young.

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