ST. CROIX — The Virgin Islands Economic Development Authority, during a Thursday board meeting, listened to results of an assessment conducted by the Pacific Northwest National Laboratory, based in Richland, Washington, detailing a number of important factors affecting the E.D.A’s vision to transform the\u00a0William D. Roebuck Economic Development Park into a model of energy efficiency in the Caribbean, while realizing considerable savings overtime for the E.D.A. and its tenants.<\/p>\n
The park would consist of four buildings with a total of 152,000 square feet, with mixed use spaces, according to the assessment document, provided to The Consortium by the E.D.A. It would save the government-owned authority and its tenants $47,000 yearly on power alone, and realize a reduction in carbon dioxide emissions of 102 metric tons, among other savings. Overall, the E.D.A. would realize $325,000 in savings annually, with a simple payback of its expenses being realized in 11.7 years.<\/p>\n
The entire project would cost $3.3 million, with the biggest single investment going towards a backup generator that costs $1.3 million, for days when the sun don’t shine or during hurricane season. An investment of $2 million would go into the park’s rooftop photovoltaic development.<\/p>\n
The assessment says the facility, when redesigned, would also serve as an attractive showcase facility for ongoing training and education. And it could become a region-wide resource as a laboratory that showcases technologies.<\/p>\n
The problem, though, lies in funding the sprawling development. The board intends to procure at least $500,000 for the project’s first phase, which includes the energy retrofit component (equipment and technologies, but administrative costs), from a competitive grant of $2.9 million made available by the federal government to Insular Areas. But with this year’s deadline to apply being the end of April, the E.D.A. may be forced to apply next year.<\/p>\n
As for raising the remaining $2.8 million, the E.D.A. is hoping that by it making the initial investment of $500,000, it would be able to form private partnerships with entities that may be encouraged invest.<\/p>\n