The Cyril E. King Airport on the Virgin Islands will soon sport a long array of ground- mounted solar panels for a distance of around 1,600 ft parallel to a runway. The SolarWorld solar panels to be opened in September will generate 450 kW of clean solar power to offset the higher level of electric power rates prevailing in the U.S. Island districts.
The 450 kW solar system at Cyril E. King Airport in St. Thomas, a solar installation featuring SolarWorld solar panels. Credit: Don Hebert Photography
OneWorld Sustainable, a Lexington, GA- based company and partner installer of SolarWorld, will be utilizing the services of the students from the University of Virgin Islands who are looking forward to have hands-on installation training to complete the installation of 1,806 panels at the Caribbean airfield.
Similarly, Seventeen buildings located in American Samoa which were depending on diesel oil for power production will soon generate clean solar energy by utilizing 350 kW SolarWord solar panels to be erected over seven government buildings and 10 schools by Island Energy and Marine of Pago-Pago, Samoa. This installation follows a 680 kW installation completed utilizing American Reinvestment and Recovery Act funds over 2 non-profit, 12 government and 10 commercial buildings. Over Guam, the western Pacific territory of the US, a 24.84 kW installation over Guam Community College’s library building was commissioned last year and a 29.4 kW system over College health education building was commissioned in May this year.
The islands with plenty of sun shine were dependent on imported fossil fuel to produce power. They have started deploying SolarWorld solar panels to generate clean power to overcome the expensive power costs ranging around 40 cents for kWh when compared to an average price of 9.7 cents in the US. SolarWorld engaged in the production of solar panels for over 35 years had started supply of solar panels to the islands from 1980.