USVI propane power plant delayed again

OREANDA-NEWS. Energy trader Vitol's \$150mn conversion of the US Virgin Islands Water and Power Authority's (Wapa) oil-fired plants to burn LPG has been further delayed to mid-September, Wapa executive director Hugo Hodge said this week.

The conversion of the plants was scheduled to be completed in April, but was reset to July as Wapa awaited a permit from the US Army Corps of Engineers for the LPG receiving docks for the power plants on St Thomas and St Croix. The permit should be granted "within the next two weeks," Hodge said.

"St Croix will probably be online in July, and St Thomas about six weeks afterwards," Hodge said.

In addition to its contract for converting the power plants, Vitol has been contracted by Wapa to supply 250,000 t/yr of LPG for seven years. General Electric was hired to convert the power plants to burn LPG.

The project was originally scheduled to be commissioned in November 2014, but that was pushed to the first quarter of this year, and then to July.

Wapa is converting its plants to meet new emissions standards set by the US Environmental Protection Agency. As a US territory, the Virgin Islands has to comply with most federal regulations.

The converted plants will also reduce by 30pc the average retail tariffs that were \$0.50/kWh when fuel oil was being used to generate power, Wapa said.