USVI Water & Power Authority

6 Business View Caribbean high electricity costs due to its traditional dependence on fuel oil for power generation, as well as to help minimize the impact of global warming from fossil fuel combustion. “We have two, four mega-watt solar farms online right now,” says Hodge, “and two, three mega- watt solar farms being built. We’ve got a seven and a half mega-watt Biofuel plant on St. Croix being built, and we’re negotiating for seven to ten mega-watts of wind power on St. Thomas.” Hodge also says that 15 mega-watts of electricty - ap- proximately 13 percent of WAPA’s peak generation of 115 mega-watts - are generated through its net me- tering program via individual rooftop solar installations. (Net metering is a billing mechanism that credits solar energy system owners for the electricity they add to the grid. For example, if a residential customer has a PV ((photo voltaic)) system on the home’s rooftop, it may generate more electricity than the home uses during daylight hours. If the home is net-metered, the electricity meter will run backwards to provide a credit against what electricity is consumed at night or other periods where the home’s electricity use exceeds the system’s output. Thus, customers are only billed for their “net” energy use.) Finally, Hodge says that WAPA is also doing a full conversion of its systems to AMI metering. AMI (Advanced Me- tering Infrastructure) is an integrated system of smart meters, communi- cations networks, and data manage- ment systems that enables two-way communication between utilities and