The first shipment of 18 empty gas tanks, weighing between 200 and 300 tons, was unloaded Wednesday at the St. Croix Port Authority Container Port to continue the territory’s conversion to energy efficient power with liquid propane and/or natural gas.
The conversion to propane is projected to save $90 million and reduce consumers’ bills by 30 percent. Reducing or eliminating the dependency on fossil fuels will “change our economy,” Gov. John deJongh Jr. said Wednesday.
The project, managed by Vitol Virgin Islands Corp., calls for building infrastructure at the St. Thomas and St. Croix power plants and converting seven of the V.I. Water and Power Authority’s turbines to burn propane. Green house gasses produced by propane will be reduced by about 20 percent compared to fuel oil, according to the WAPA.
Officials and WAPA board members, government dignitaries and members of the media watched in fascination as a 144-foot steel cylinder was slowly winched from the ship to shore on Wednesday. The largest tank weighs 315 tons, is 165 feet long and 30 feet high. All were fabricated by Geldof Integrated Steel Solutions of Belgium.
Eight of the tanks, each 30 feet tall and 18 feet in diameter, will be unloaded by Mammoet shipping this week and eventually transported by barge to the Estate Richmond WAPA plant. Ten more tanks will be delivered to St. Croix and then barged to St. Thomas.
“It’s another big milestone in the project to bring it to fruition – to bring significant savings to the rate payers,” said Hugo Hodge, WAPA executive director.
Since a March groundbreaking at the St. Croix WAPA plant, the ground has been prepared to hold the cylinders, each with 100 percent redundant safety mechanisms and surrounded by safety mounds to minimize contact with oxygen, a fire hazard. A retaining wall will confine the area, according to Hodge.
“I personally visited the tanks while they were in the fabrication yard to ensure that the contractor was adhering to the highest technical standards,” Hodge said in a prepared statement.
“I can say, without a doubt, that these LPG storage tanks are the product of world class fabrication technology. They are the best built, strongest and safest of their kind.”
DeJongh, who was president of the WAPA board 25 years ago, attended the off-loading event and commended the WAPA team on the project. He said, “What’s been achieved today far surpasses what we were doing.” He added the conversion to propane will be “a salary increase for many of us.”
WAPA Board President Gerald Groner also made comments and said the scope and complexity of the project cannot be underestimated. He agreed with the governor that the $90 million consumers have paid WAPA in the past for oil “will stay in your pockets.”
Vitol has offices around the world and is one of the world’s largest independent energy trading companies. It has developed energy terminals in Europe, Africa, South America, the U.S. and other regions. All up-front capital costs for the conversion are being financed by Vitol and Hodge said Vitol “pledged” to hire as many Virgin Islanders as possible.
WAPA officials have said the utility will begin to use propane sometime in the fall. More information about the project can be found at poweringvi.vi.