Governor Kenneth Mapp said on Wednesday that the territory will have a more resilient energy system through the continued installation and substitution of composite poles, which he intends to purchase — at a cost of $4,000 each — with $50 million from the recently announced $243 million U.S. Housing and Urban Development (H.U.D.) grant.
The composite poles are flexible and can withstand winds up to 200 miles per hour. If damaged, the poles have serial numbers trackable by the manufacturer through a GPS system.
“These are part of the systems that we are installing to harden the transmission and distribution system of the Water and Power Authority (WAPA),” Mr. Mapp said during his Wednesday press briefing.
Along with the composite poles, wind generators will be installed to help lower the cost of power in the territory, Mr. Mapp said. And two generators will be installed on St. John in the Cruz Bay and Coral Bay areas to assist in maintaining power to St. John in the event of power disruption to the Randolph Harley Power Plant, which is located on St. Thomas.
“This is not a pipe dream,” he said. “This is not three years away – we are already in the process of identifying land for this power generation unit.”
The administration plans on installing solar farms on the roofs of the 6 schools that Mr. Mapp hopes to receive funding from FEMA to rebuild.
The governor said his administration would work with federal partners and global nonprofit entities such as the Clinton Foundation and the Bloomberg Foundation to “build the territory in a much more hardened way, and smarter way, to reduce the negative impact to our lives as we go through hurricanes.”
Tags: composite poles, energy, governor mapp, usvi, wapa
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