A total blackout affected St. Thomas and St. John in the U.S. Virgin Islands early Sunday, marking the second outage this weekend as the territory faces increasing electrical supply issues. The Virgin Islands Water and Power Authority attributed the blackouts to a loss of generation at a power plant. While power was restored after the first blackout late Saturday, another outage occurred just hours later. The islands, home to over 42,000 residents on St. Thomas and nearly 4,000 on St. John, have experienced frequent outages, leading to public frustrations voiced on social media. Governor Albert Bryan Jr. has committed to addressing the problem, having invested approximately $100 million in federal funding to support the utility. Despite these efforts, challenges remain due to aging infrastructure and past hurricane damage.
Why It Matters
The U.S. Virgin Islands’ electrical grid has been strained due to outdated generation units, with more than half being over 25 years old. The damage from hurricanes Irma and Maria in 2017 significantly impaired the territory’s transmission and distribution systems, with up to 90% affected. Currently, only about 3% of the territory’s power generation comes from renewable sources, contributing to high electricity costs, which average about 33 cents per kilowatt hour—nearly double the U.S. average. Plans for temporary generation and energy storage installations indicate ongoing efforts to mitigate these outages, but the underlying issues persist.
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