ST. THOMAS — Since the Virgin Islands Water and Power Authority brought online four Wärtsilä generators in January at the Randolph Harley Power Plant, the St. Thomas-St. John District has experienced power outages for various reasons explained by WAPA — reduced generation capacity, mechanical repairs, and inclement weather.
The impact on WAPA’s customers has included power outages connected to specific feeders, rotational outages due to reduced generation capacity, and district-wide outages.
Despite WAPA’s explanations for the outages, Governor Albert Bryan Jr. provided new information during a telephone conversation Thursday on “Analyze This with Neville James” that the Authority has not shared with the public.
“What they’re not telling people in St. Thomas is they’re trying to convert the Wärtsiläs over to the propane, and they’re having failures on the propane side, which is turning off the plant,” Bryan said. “It’s triggering other things happening and that’s why we keep getting these island wides. But they’re trying to fix the problem, so it’s kind of like a grow pain.”
Shanell Petersen, WAPA spokesperson, said in an audio update issued at about 10 a.m. Thursday that the St. Thomas/St. John District had been experiencing a district-wide outage due to loss of generation at the power plant.
The St. Thomas/St. John District has been experiencing regular rotational outages for at least the past month.
When it comes to the power generation units at the St. Thomas power plant, Bryan said Unit 27, which he described as a “power horse,” is causing problems.
Karl Knight, WAPA executive director and CEO, said during a WAPA board meeting on Thursday that most of the issues at the St. Thomas power plant has to do with a shortfall of generation capacity. He said, however, the restoration of Unit 27 should provide options that allow WAPA to maintain the power grid if another unit goes offline without needing to shed load or rotate power.
“We should be in a better position, believe it or not, moving forward that we’ve been in the last couple of weeks, or quite frankly, than we’ve been since Unit 27 went offline several weeks ago,” Knight said. “So, we’ve been flirting with disaster the last few weeks and we’ve had a run of bad luck.”
As WAPA attempts to convert the Wärtsilä generators to propane, Bryan said Wärtsilä engineers are assisting. He was optimistic the transition would be successful.
“They’re going to get it together,” he said. “We’re going to get through this. We’re moving forward with the solar plants. I’m working with the Trump administration to make sure that we can secure those dollars.”
The governor said Coastal Zone Management permits are still necessary for two planned solar plants on St. Thomas, noting that he recently met with the CZM board to discuss fast-tracking the permits considering substantial construction must be completed by December. He said he is working with Energy Secretary Chris Wright to ensure the territory can keep funding because the Trump administration is rescinding dollars every day.
“We lost about $50 million in Solar for All in the Big Beautiful Bill,” Bryan said. “That’s one of the cuts that they made, so you’ve got to kind of ride the wave that you get.”
