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In addition to their abundance of scenic beaches and tourist resorts, the Virgin Islands also, understandably, have a large excess of waste that accrues from the nearly year-long tourism season. However, as the saying goes, when life hands you lemon rinds, grind them up and turn them into bio-diesel.
By the end of 2012, the Virgin Islands plan to create about 50 megawatts of waste-to-energy capacity, which will be a part of the territory’s first alternative-energy program. Alpine Energy group has recently released plans to build two stations that will convert waste to energy costing the company about $440 million. These two plants will be located on St. Thomas and St. Croix, with the stations producing 33 and 16 MW of steam and electric power, respectively. All in all, the plants will dispose of roughly 146,000 tons of solid waste every year.
The plan hopes to decrease the amount of fines the territory pays to the EPA for pollution, and to put a halt to the overflowing nature of the landfills in the area. The Virgin Islands has a five-times-greater energy consumption than the United States, and has largely relied on oil-based machinery to generate power. With fuel rising in cost, this program seems to be a perfect fit. Construction will begin next May.
