U.S. Virgin Islands tap Alpine to build first alt-energy plants

Englewood, Colo.-based Alpine Energy Group said it plans to build two waste-to-energy plants in the U.S. Virgin Islands at a total cost of $440 million.

U.S. Virgin Islands Gov. John deJongh said in a news release that the plants would be the first in the territory to use a source other than fossil fuels to generate energy or to purify water. DeJongh said the facilities could also help the islands solve problems of excess solid waste that have prompted fines from the U.S. Environmental Protection Agency.

Alpine signed two 20-year power-purchase agreements with the nonprofit Virgin Islands Water and Power Authority (WAPA) to supply electricity to residents of St. Croix, St. John and St. Thomas, in addition to two 20-year deals to manage the solid waste for the government-run Virgin Islands Waste Management Authority (WMA).

Alpine plans to begin construction in May 2010 in St. Thomas and St. Croix, with expected completion in the fourth quarter of 2012. The 33-megawatt plant in Long Point, St. Thomas, is expected to serve residents of that island as well as St. John. St. Croix is expected to have a dedicated 16-MW plant in the Anguilla area near the Krause Lagoon.

Under the agreements, Alpine plans to generate steam and electric power by disposing of 146,000 tons per year of municipal solid waste. Alpine's WastAway Services technology combines the refuse-derived fuel with petroleum coke.

The WAPA and WMA both issued requests for proposals in 2007 to solve the problems caused by rising fuel costs and increasing demand for landfill space, deciding to collabrate in 2008. WAPA serves 66,000 customers in St. Croix, St. John, St. Thomas, Water Island, and Hassel Island.

According the the U.S. Energy Information Adminsitration, the per capita energy consumption in the U.S. Virgin Islands was more than five times that of the United States in 2006.

Almost all the U.S. territory's electricity comes from oil-fired generators, which source 80 percent of their fuel from Hovensa, a crude oil refinery in St. Croix that is among the 10 largest in the world. Hovensa has a capacity of 500,000 barrels per day. The island is also home to a facility that dehydrates ethanol from Brazil so that it can be shipped the U.S.

The EIA notes that the territory has potential for wind energy generation because of class 4 winds on its major islands, as well as class 3 on smaller islands. In addition, the government recently awarded a grant to install a 30-kilowatt photovoltaic system on a hospital.