Top Priorities
The Virgin Islands Water and Power Authority faces three urgent and connected challenges. First, energy costs must be lowered by reducing reliance on fossil fuels and improving delivery efficiency using every resource already available, including the South Shore. Second, a comprehensive audit of WAPA’s resources, including time, personnel and finances, is essential for restructuring and restoring rate-payer and public confidence in WAPA as a reliable energy service provider. Third, WAPA needs to be reorganized from a day-to-day power plant operator into an energy service provider and manager with long-term strategies, utilizing Virgin Islands skills and resources. There needs to be a shift from day-to-day operations to a dedicated strategic plan for a stable energy system.
Immediate Day 1 Steps
Transparency for the People
WAPA and the Government of the Virgin Islands cannot keep the public in the dark. During power outages, WAPA must communicate regularly and clearly with the public. Virgin Islanders deserve to know what is happening and why: the problems that exist, what is being done to address them, and what they can expect going forward. Families, businesses, and caregivers need to be able to plan and prepare, which can only be done with consistent and comprehensive information.
Declare a State of Emergency on Energy and Request a Federal Disaster Declaration
The Virgin Islands Water and Power Authority is no stranger to crisis and neither is Congresswoman Plaskett’s response to it. As far back as 2019, and most recently in March of 2026, Congresswoman Plaskett has called on the Government of the Virgin Islands to request a State of Emergency on Energy and Federal Disaster Declaration to unlock access to federal resources, technical expertise, and an expedited permitting process to bring temporary generation assistance to the Virgin Islands. The federal government has tools available right now. The U.S. Department of Energy’s Section 202(c) emergency powers have previously been used to provide vegetation management for transmission corridors in Puerto Rico, and the same approach must be applied here. Additionally, battery systems can be procured under FEMA’s prudent replacement authority, Section 428, or added under FEMA Section 406 mitigation, where project worksheets already exist for substations.
Immediate Focus on Transmission and Distribution System Maintenance
Transmission and distribution infrastructure must be addressed immediately. The federal government has tools available right now. Vegetation management along transmission corridors and targeted deployment of battery systems at substations would provide critical redundancy: when power goes out, batteries come up. The U.S. Department of Energy’s Section 202(c) emergency powers have been used to provide vegetation management for transmission corridors in Puerto Rico. The same approach must be applied here. Additionally, battery systems can be procured under FEMA’s prudent replacement authority, Section 428, or added under FEMA Section 406 mitigation, where project worksheets already exist for substations.
Immediately Roll Out the Virgin Islands Resiliency Gateway
The Virgin Islands Resiliency Gateway program must start now. Designed specifically to support medically vulnerable residents, the program provides portable battery systems capable of powering essential appliances and medical equipment during outages. The program is already operational on St. John, where its impact on vulnerable populations has been demonstrated. People’s lives depend on its immediate territory-wide expansion.
Short- to Mid- to Long-Term
WAPA Transformation and Infrastructure Relocation
WAPA’s generation infrastructure should be decentralized by moving a portion of Richmond’s thermal capacity to a South Shore industrial zone. This move would shorten fuel logistics, reduce coastal exposure, and yield approximately $12 million in annual savings with direct impact on energy prices across the territory. Richmond is currently constrained by the size and draft of vessels that can access it. Fuel costs approximately 48 cents per gallon and moving to the South Shore would reduce that cost by at least 15 cents per gallon. The complexity and expense of delivering fuel to Richmond drives up LEAC costs territory-wide.
Relocating to the South Shore would also open the door to alternative fuel mixes, including Liquefied Natural Gas, given the storage operations already located there. A distribution hub could potentially serve other Caribbean islands in the region. The move would also help connect to the over 100 megawatts of electrical generation at the Port Hamilton Facility and enable WAPA to sell power to industrial clients in the South Shore Industrial Zone at reduced rates, potentially spurring significant new industrial development.
Once generation is relocated, Richmond should be decommissioned as a thermal facility and repurposed as a utility-scale Battery Energy Storage System hub of 100 or more megawatt-hours, deployed in phases. This would provide black-start capability, frequency support, and reserve capacity, and is consistent with FEMA mitigation funding precedent for battery storage and microgrids.
A WAPA Program Management Office will be created with independent oversight, public reporting, milestone-based funding draws, third-party audits, and a community liaison function.
Microgrids and Distributed Energy
In a Plaskett-Potter Administration, WAPA will prioritize the development of both residential and utility-scale microgrids. Critical facilities, including hospitals, water systems, and ports, as well as low-income neighborhoods should be prioritized for rooftop solar and storage deployment through programs including Solar for All, VIBES, and on-bill financing pilots. Utility-scale microgrids combining wind, solar, and battery storage will be deployed across St. Thomas, St. Croix, St. John, and Water Island, with island-operation capability and capital funded through FEMA Hazard Mitigation and DOI/DOE grants.
Modernize Generation Assets: LNG, Hydrogen, and Renewable Hybrids
In the short term, modern and efficient LNG peaker units should be contracted to replace aging oil generators, reducing both fuel costs and emissions while hydrogen infrastructure matures. Over the medium and long term, WAPA should invest in a green hydrogen pilot pairing an electrolyzer with excess solar and wind generation for seasonal storage and fuel-switching capability, coupled with dual-fuel gas turbines to maintain system reliability.
Funding, Procurement, and Regulatory Actions
The capital required for this transformation should come from diversified funding: FEMA mitigation grants, EPA Greenhouse Gas Reduction Fund programs including Solar for All, DOE and DOI technical assistance, the State Energy Program under the Bipartisan Infrastructure Law, and private power purchase agreements. All Power Purchase Agreements will include clear dispatch and storage pricing terms and community benefit clauses.
Identifying Cost Savings
In a Plaskett-Potter Administration, WAPA will conduct a full review of its facilities footprint to identify consolidation opportunities on government-owned properties. The Authority currently pays nearly $2 million annually in rent, and any financial restructuring should address this.
Public-Private Partnerships
In a Plaskett-Potter Administration, WAPA will explore public-private partnerships that would allow the transmission and distribution system to be leased to a private operator, letting the Authority focus its capital and organizational capacity on power generation.
New Innovations to Consider
Emerging technologies deserve to be considered. These include modular, plug-and-play battery storage systems that allow incremental scaling and fault containment; AI-driven microgrid controllers and distributed energy resource management systems for load coordination; DC microgrids and high-efficiency inverters to reduce system losses; vehicle-to-grid technology to leverage electric vehicles as distributed storage; and flow batteries and green hydrogen for long-duration and seasonal storage as costs continue to decline.
System-Wide Improvements
Longer term, AI-driven automation and enhanced grid interconnectivity with built-in redundancies will back up primary systems. By placing utilities for new housing and government construction projects underground and integrating wireless services with utility infrastructure, WAPA will become more resilient. Clean water generating solutions will be incorporated into the territory’s broader utility strategy.
