Two companies pledging to fill gaps in the Virgin Islands’ electrical and building material supply needs made pitches for tax breaks Thursday. They also claimed some of their products were superior to what was currently available.
Atta Misbeh, co-owner of United Investors, LLC, told the Economic Development Commission his company, Concrete Masters, could manufacture 200 yards of ready-mixed concrete an hour. Using locally mined raw materials along with special sand imported from Montserrat, the concrete would be tested at an in-house lab to ensure it was high quality.
“The most important thing about concrete is the quality. What you order is what you get. This is infrastructure. This isn’t something like cooking a plate of food,” Misbeh said.
United Investors plans to use environmentally friendly packaging and other practices that maximize efficiency and minimize waste and landfill impact.
The commission warned the second half of 2024 would see a vast increase in demand for concrete in the territory for schools, a hospital, and other projects.
Misbeh said that’s what got him and his business-partner brother interested in a high-volume, high-quality concrete plant.
“After the hurricane we learned that there were significant infrastructure projects that needed to be done in the coming years. School, hospitals, bridges, airport. We realized that St. Croix did not have the means to support these projects,” he said. “As we all know, the ability to procure quality concrete and concrete products in the quantity needed for large projects exponentially raises the cost of those projects and often resulted in projects being abandoned due to lack of funding. Recognizing this, my brother and I began to brainstorm on how we can not only meet these needs but on how we can do so in an environmentally friendly matter without further contribution to an existing issue.”
Commission member Positive Nelson asked if the increase in concrete production would lead to a reduction in price.
“You will be surprised,” he said, stressing quality over price.
Christian Loranger, owner of VI Electron, was more straightforward in his assessment of his company’s potential impact.
“Our overall goal is to reduce the price of power drastically to the end user, to the ratepayer,” Loranger said via Zoom from his St. John home. “With our battery and solar projects, we will be providing approximately 33 percent of the power load in the Virgin Islands.”
Loranger said his company owns three sites on St. Croix, two sites on St. Thomas, and one on St. John for direct-current solar panels.
“We will be supplying 54 megawatts DC to the St. Croix grid, 85 megawatts DC to the St. Thomas and St. John system as they are connected. VI Electron LLC will also be supplying 124.2-megawatt hours of battery storage to the islands, which will help stabilize the grid and increase the quality of power that we have on all three islands. VI Electron has designed a system for the V.I. that is not only cutting edge in the United States, but it’s cutting edge in the world, and we will have some firsts in the world as far as electrical generation and battery storage,” he said.
Unlike solar farms obliterated by the 2017 hurricanes, Loranger said his panels will use eight bolts instead of four and have been designed in such a way to not be weakened by the vibrations high wind speeds cause.
“We have designed a solar and racking system that can withstand a maximum of 185 mile an hour wind speed. We’ve put a lot of work into this. We have manufactured our steel in the thickest coating of galvanizing that you can buy. We have manufactured this racking system so that it’s designed to last for over 50 years. With our low-cost contracts at 10.9 cents per watt for 25 years with no escalator, this will allow the Water and Power Authority to reduce the price of power that the ratepayer pays while at the same time have an instant 33 percent hedge against future price increases in the propane market for the next 25 years at least, which opens up an abundance of cost-saving abilities for WAPA if used properly,” he said. “Other benefits of the batteries are grid forming, meaning that they help stabilization of the grid.”
In May, Loranger told the Public Services Commission his company’s first solar farm could be up and running in September but was having trouble integrating with existing Water and Power Authority structures.
In exchange for EDC benefits, VI Electron committed to a minimum capital investment of $18 million, likely more. They plan to employ a minimum of 10 full-time employees, including Loranger, within one year of the date its certificate is signed or within one year of commencement of benefits, whichever is later. VI Electron will provide its full-time employees with health insurance, paying 100 percent of premiums for its eligible employees and their dependents.
VI Electron will also provide each eligible employee with a minimum of $30,000 in term life insurance and will also provide a defined contribution plan such as a 401k or similar plan, contributing at least two percent of the employee’s salary to the plan, whether or not the employee contributes. VI Electron will also provide its eligible employees with paid time off and paid holidays as set forth in the application. Finally, it will contribute a minimum of $30,000 to charitable causes in the territory, commencing in the first 12 months following the commencement of benefits, with annual increases of $1,500 capped at $50,000.
Of the overall amount, at least $10,000 will be directed towards educational assistance, with at least 55 percent of that amount directed to the Education Department for public school programs and initiatives. The remaining contribution amount will be directed towards broad-based charitable causes in the USBI. The company would also make statutory contributions to the Territory Scholarship Fund and the Department of Labor Fund. And VI Electron is aware that as a Category 4 beneficiary, it will be required to contribute the $10,000 to the Territorial Scholarship Fund, as opposed to the $3,000 limit for Category 3 applicants.
Concrete maker United Investors has a similar plan.
In exchange for tax breaks, United Investors committed to a minimum capital investment of $525,000 and employing a minimum of 15 full-time Virgin Islanders within one year of the date that its certificate is signed by the EDC chairman or within one year of commencement of benefits, whichever is later.
United Investors will provide its full-time employees with health insurance, paying 60 percent of premiums for its eligible employees and 50 percent for their dependents. United Investors will provide each eligible employee with a minimum of $30,000 in term life insurance, and will provide each eligible employee with a defined contribution plan, such as a 401k or similar plan, contributing at least two percent of each employee’s salary, whether or not the employee contributes.
United Investors will also provide its eligible employees with paid time off and paid holidays as set forth in the application. Finally, United Investors will contribute a minimum of $35,000 to charitable causes in the territory commencing in the first 12 months, following the commencement of benefits with annual increases of $1,500 capped at $50,000. Of the overall amount, at least $10,000 will be contributed toward educational assistance, with at least 55 percent of that amount to be directed to the Education Department for public school programs and initiatives.
The commission did not make a decision on the applications Thursday, also hearing requests from management and consulting service providers Sail Rock Investment, LLC and PL Partners, LLP. The commission granted a request from DIAM Management, Inc to modify existing tax breaks for the company to employ fewer Virgin Islanders full-time.
