Solarize St. John is a community-wide post-hurricane movement to a cleaner and more resilient St. John. Inspired by similar efforts elsewhere in the U.S., this public-private initiative — called Solarize St. John — will identify homeowners, villas, businesses and non-profits who have a common interest in tapping the power of the sun to energize their St. John properties. The program also features battery back-up installation capabilities to provide St. John residents with more dependable power. Solar power and battery storage at crowdsourced prices!
As part of the Solarize St. John initiative, we are conducting a survey to guage interest in possible solar+storage programs that may become available to St. John residents in the future.
Our local power company (WAPA) is developing a plan for solar + battery installations on residential and commercial properties on St. John. This would enable WAPA to provide St. John with locally generated renewable power. Currently, it is generated on St. Thomas in a plant powered by fossil fuels. Transmission via an undersea cable and through substations on both islands make available power more susceptible to outages.
At no cost to you, WAPA would install, own and maintain the solar panels and batteries at your home. WAPA would own the power generated. You would continue to pay your monthly power bill.
Program details and timing have not yet been confirmed but there are several ways that a program like this could work. How interested are you in each of the following options?