A program to help V.I. homeowners buy solar water-heating systems with little or no money down was announced Thursday by Gov. John deJongh Jr.—part of an initiative to jump-start the sale of solar systems and decrease the territory’s dependence on fossil fuels.
Another key part of the program took place earlier Thursday in a ceremony at Government House in Christiansted, where 26 students in the Green Tech training program at the Career and Technical Education Center received their certification as solar water heater installers.
The V.I. Energy Office and deJongh are hoping that the 50-percent rebate and 30-percent tax credit on solar units, coupled with the newly announced financing program, will spur the growth of the solar power industry in the territory.
With annual sales projected at 1,000 units, there should be a growing demand for professional installation. The 26 men and women who received their certificates Thursday stand ready to do just that.
Lauded as trailblazers, the new certificate holders were told they are on the cutting edge of a new industry for the territory. Officials, including the governor, told them how proud they should be.
It would have been harder to find anyone prouder at the ceremony than Rane Edwards, who watched as her husband, Albert Edwards Jr., received his certificate.
“I’m tremendously proud of him,” she said, adding that through all the difficulties, study and hard work, “He persevered. It’s really a great achievement.”
The Green Tech program was a cooperative effort among private businesses and several government agencies – the Department of Labor, the Department of Education and the Energy Office – to encourage the use of the sun’s power to replace fossil fuels in the U.S. Virgin Islands.
Over a period of 20 weeks the students completed 363 hours of training, starting with basic safety and tool use. The program then progressed to an intensive study of the theory and practice of solar water heating, then on to constructing prototypes of various system designs. The final step of the program involved going out on job sites and, under the guidance of private solar unit dealers, actually installing them in real-world situations.
Several of the speakers referred to the students as “pioneers,” beginning with Labor Commissioner Albert Bryant, who said the ceremony had reminded him of the early days of the telephone.
By using federal stimulus money to create the infrastructure and providing the trained work force, Bryant said, the territory has jumped ahead of the curve. “For the first time, the Virgin Islands is at the front,” he said.
Gov. deJongh called the ceremony “a milestone achievement in expanding our capability and reach in the territory’s green jobs sector.”
“With this effort we balance private-sector risk with public-sector support in a cooperative venture that shows the V.I. government at its best,” he said.
And Thursday’s honorees were on the cutting edge of that movement, according to the governor. “You are going to take the lead in this entire community,” he said. “I look at you today not just as 26 individuals that will go out into the solar water heating industry. You are truly blazing a path for us.”
Other speakers at Thursday’s ceremony included Willard John, the principal of C-TEC; Energy Office Director Bevan Smith Jr.; Eduardo Corniero of the Department of Education; environmental architect and alternative energy supporter Onaje Jackson; Lt. Gov. Gregory Francis; and Delegate Donna Christensen, who said she delayed her return to Washington, D.C., to attend the ceremony.
The financing program, announced in a news release from the governor’s office late Thursday, has been in the planning stages for months. Funded under the American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009, the program provides qualifying residents with loans to assist in the installation of solar water heaters. The no-money down loans are available through the Economic Development Authority at a 1 percent fixed interest rate over a five-year period.
The loans will be repaid by the borrowers through their WAPA bills. Installation of the systems are expected to lower a home’s energy costs by about 30 percent, so participating homeowners will continue paying about the same or slightly less on their monthly energy bills as before. When the loan is paid off they will reap the full economic benefit of solar water-heating, and will own the system.
