In January 2008, the V.I. Energy Office hosted a wind power seminar at The Ritz-Carlton on St. Thomas.

Enthusiastic residents from all three islands barely fit into the biggest conference room at the hotel. And Gov. John deJongh Jr. showed up and gave a speech that was to become his first and last vocal support for this traditional way of generating clean, cheap energy.

At the time, less than one half of one percent of the 15MW set aside for privately funded net metering power generation was utilized by residents of the territory.

Today that number has grown but is still believed to be somewhere around one percent.Β 

Another serious effort to ease the access for V.I. residents to generate clean power was added by the passing of Act 7075, better known as the Hill Bill. A key provision in this bill was a dream come true for wind power enthusiasts, especially on St. Thomas.

Until then, an estimated 80 to 90 percent of the residents on St. Thomas were off limits for wind power because of the size or configuration of their property. Act 7075 opened up the possibility for the net metering customers to install their device in a place that met DPNR guidelines, and they could then get the credit at their residence.

This is not a new idea. Many U.S. states have similar legislation.

To make it work, WAPA would have to make changes in the billing department. Very easy all around.

Finally the Energy Office, helped by the federal government, has come out with an incentive program second to none. This is the biggest ever give-away in support of renewable energy to be launched by that office - $31 million must be spent before 2012. That comes to roughly $1 million a month, and with an up to 50 percent rebate all around, the V.I. residents must come up with the other million every month to ensure that we don't end up sending money back to where it came from.

At our home we have had both wind and solar running simultaneously for seven years, and we are now net metering customers with a credit of $1,200 at WAPA.

The data we have collected over the years shows us that investment in wind roughly cuts the all important payback time in half compared to solar. New 'storm-proof' wind generators on the market, from 1KW to 1MW, eliminate many of the weather concerns that have kept people from investing in wind.

As an example, a 5KW wind generator on a 60-foot hydraulic will eliminate your $450 a month WAPA bill. Payback time? You do the math.

So are we all set to dig into the 14+MW set aside for net metering?

Sadly, we are not.

Co-op utilities on the mainland are encouraging their customer/owners to invest in renewable devices. Some utilities have become distributors of small wind generators, others pay cash to customer/owners who send excess power back into the grid. But in the Virgin Islands, WAPA CEO Hugo Hodge has stated that he will challenge several provisions in the Hill Bill, including the increased size of net metering limits, but, worst of all, the provision that allows you to install your wind generator away from your residence.

If successful he will kill a majority of privately funded future wind projects in the Virgin Islands especially on St. Thomas.

Until there is clarification about this issue, several wind projects are on hold. Nobody wants to put up the next Tutu Park Mall wind generator and suffer those same consequences.

E-mails to the Energy Office and Sen. Louis Hill's office to get an idea of the outcome of this challenge have not been answered.

Nobody expects the governor to pick up the phone and solve this issue once and for all. Gov. deJongh has all along supported Hugo Hodge in his effort to make the territory more dependent on fossil fuel.

It is our opinion that the standoff between WAPA and those of its customers who favor access to clean energy will persist as long as WAPA remains an authority.

Remember, 70 percent of the U.S. mainland gets their power from small customer-owned utilities, or co-ops, and a majority of them has set goals that are in line with President Obama's vision of a clean energy future.

This is the people's business run by the people.

The concept of an authority has its roots in a totalitarian regime, where board members, in a show of fake democracy, are seated by the one man in charge.

You can call it anything you want. Just don't call it democracy.

- Steffen Larsen lives on St. Croix.