The Virgin Islands Energy Office has acknowledged that some or all of the $62.5 million meant for key solar energy projects in the territory had been frozen by the federal government.
While the majority of the funds were eventually unfrozen, Energy Office Director Kyle Fleming implied in a written statement late afternoon Friday that a portion was still being held back because of broad-reaching executive orders by President Donald Trump in January.
“Over the past three weeks, the majority of federal funds awarded to VIEO that were initially impacted by the pause have been unfrozen, and conversations with our federal partners indicate that already established programs and priorities will continue to be met,” Fleming said.
It was still unclear exactly when the funds were frozen and how much remains inaccessible. Fleming did not immediately reply to messages Saturday morning.
On Thursday, Energy Office Deputy Director Mike Jaffurs said the territory’s solar projects had so far dodged efforts by Environmental Protection Agency Administrator Lee Zeldin to reportedly terminate $20 billion in clean-energy grant money.
A critical first part of the $62.5 million Solar For All grant arrived in the Virgin Islands Feb. 21, Fleming said, to fund the Solar For All Ah Weprogram. The money will be used for start-up administrative costs like hiring essential staff.
By creating affordable access to residential rooftop solar generation, Fleming said Solar For All Ah We had the potential to make the territory’s electrical grid more reliable and resilient through community microgrids.
“Microgrids are small electrical grids that are tied into, but can act independently of, a larger municipal energy distribution grid. By deploying technology like battery energy storage solutions and solar, microgrids help to improve the reliability of the entire electrical grid by giving managers at the Water and Power Authority more flexibility in how they respond to electrical faults, demand surges, and other fluctuations,” Fleming wrote.
Trump’s executive orders in January and February halting foreign humanitarian aid and all diversity, equality, inclusion, and accessibility funding quaked federal fund recipients in the United States and abroad.
