21 MW smart plant for Virgin Islands

Wärtsilä is to supply a 21 MW ‘Smart Power Generation’ power plant to the US Virgin Islands Water and Power Authority (USVI WAPA). The order includes three Wärtsilä 34SG-LPG engines running on propane gas. Wärtsilä’s scope covers the entire engineering, procurement and construction (EPC) of the project. The power plant will be located on the island of St. Thomas, and is expected to be operational in early 2018.

As with most Caribbean islands, the USVI has no domestic fossil energy resources and relies on imports of petroleum products to meet its energy needs. In order to diversify its fuel sources, the USVI’s electric utility WAPA is completing an energy infrastructure modernisation programme, the largest such project in the Caribbean. This will enable the use of propane gas as a primary fuel for energy production, thereby significantly reducing the cost of electricity, and the dependence on and environmental impact of diesel oil.

This will be Wärtsilä’s first power plant in the USVI and its third propane-fired plant. It will provide baseload, peaking and balancing power for the St Thomas electric system and will be built to comply with the strict Environmental Protection Agency emission regulations applicable in the US Virgin Islands.

“The Wärtsilä generating units will be critical to the Virgin Islands Water and Power Authority’s ability to maximise the full potential of its recent conversion from fuel oil to LPG as the primary fuel source. says WAPA executive director/CEO, Julio A. Rhymer. According to Edmund Phillips, Business Development manager at Wärtsilä Energy Solutions, “The efficiency of these engines offers significant benefits. In addition, the quick start-up time and operational flexibility of these Wärtsilä units will support the future integration of renewable energy sources on the island”.