Virgin Islands faced several energy challenges not that unlike rural Alaska. Looking forward, an electricity system with microgrids and energy storage capabilities will allow hospitals, shelters, airports, and other key services to keep running even if the larger grid goes down.īefore the storms, Puerto Rico and the U.S. The microgrid has created new jobs and saved residents anywhere from 30 to 50 percent on energy and heating costs. This more reliable and resilient energy system has also generated economic growth in a village with 29 percent of the population living under the poverty line. The village’s infrastructure project included building and installing smart meters (which provide a more accurate and automated record of energy consumption), thermal stoves in homes, and a microgrid that manages the flow of electricity generated from wind turbines. In 2010, the Village of Kongiganok began work on a wind- diesel hybrid smart microgrid with support from the Department of Energy’s tribal energy program. The ability of microgrids to “island” or operate independently from the larger grid means they can provide dependable energy to some of Alaska’s most isolated areas. 15 percent of the world’s microgrid projects are in Alaska. Alaska’s solution for unreliable access to often expensive electricity has been to deploy hundreds of microgrids. Many residents spend as much as 50 percent of their yearly income powering their homes, a crippling expense for households. Electricity prices in Alaska are more than double the national average across the continental United States and the state has the highest per capita energy consumption in the country. Villages in remote areas of Alaska rely mostly on expensive diesel fuel, but harsh weather conditions or natural disasters can disrupt supply chains, cutting off fuel and power supply. Microgrids have been effectively deployed to address the needs of remote communities where geography or harsh weather make reliable access to electricity challenging.Įnergy access has been a persistent challenge for Alaska, particularly in rural parts of the state.
These modular, self-contained electrical systems function as stop-gaps in the larger grid but also operate as autonomous “islands” when needed. Microgrids are building blocks for a more resilient energy system and a promising piece of the solution.
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Virgin Islands raises important questions about how to best help those in disaster prone areas. The resulting crisis in Puerto Rico and the U.S. With federal, state, and territorial funds severely constrained, it is imperative to balance meeting immediate needs while addressing long-term structural deficiencies. The first priority must be restoring power to affected citizens, but strengthening energy infrastructure to ensure resiliency will be key to preventing such widespread outages in the future. A month after the second storm, a majority of the 106,000 residents were still without power but the local utility remains committed to their goal of restoring power to 90 percent of the U.S. Virgin Islands face similar challenges rebuilding after being hit by two separate category five hurricanes this season.
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Transmission poles and other infrastructure must be fully replaced before remote communities can be reconnected to the grid, meaning some homes could be without power for another full year.
In Puerto Rico, Hurricane Maria left 80 percent of the territory’s transmission system disabled and since recovery efforts have focused on restoring power to critical institutions such as hospitals, fire stations, and water treatment plants, more than 50 percent of the island’s 3.4 million residents are still without power. The vulnerabilities created by those characteristics are exacerbated in islands where fewer outside connections exist to provide power in the event of a system outage. is complex, restoring service to island territories has proven to be a tougher task.Įlectricity grids are typically centralized and heavily interdependent systems. states and territories, however 2017 was especially difficult. Hurricane season presents annual challenges for several U.S. Give Search Keywords Submit Policy Areas.
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