Virgin Islands Energy Office has been awarded a $2.6 million dollar grant to advance the U.S. Virgin Islands community access to residential battery storage, electric vehicle affordability & maintenance, and energy sector workforce development, Government House announced Friday.
The funding has been made available through the Biden administration’s “Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act” and represents a 10x funding increase in the State Energy Program’s annual formula budget. This augmented funding source improves the types of innovation that can be incorporated into the projects the VIEO executes throughout the energy–burdened community.
For example, the VIEO will leverage a portion of the funds to provide rebates that significantly lower the upfront cost for consumers seeking to:
• Prevent power outages by installing home battery systems.
• Reduce transportation fuel & maintenance costs through the purchase of electric vehicles.
The successful and timely award of this grant is indicative of the tens of millions of dollars the VIEO will receive and administer through the “Infrastructure Investment and Jobs Act.”
The U.S. Virgin Islands stands to benefit immensely through this once–in–a–generation federal funding opportunity, and the VIEO is committed to ensuring those benefits are fully realized.
