Bryan Addresses STT-STJ WAPA Outages

     Bryan Addresses 

STT-STJ WAPA Outages

M.A. Dworkin

     St. Thomas - Governor Albert Bryan Jr. used Monday’s Government House weekly press briefing on St. Thomas to address the recent repeated power outages in the St. Thomas-St. John District over the last two weeks, acknowledging the frustration and hardship experienced by residents and businesses.

     The Governor said he has been briefed on the issues affecting the system, including the failure of Unit 15 at the Randolph Harley Power Plant, which left the district short of needed generation during peak demand, as well as a separate St. John outage tied to apparent damage to a transmission line. WAPA said crews have been working around the clock to restore generation capacity and stabilize service. 

     Governor Bryan said he pledged any support necessary from his Administration to assist the Authority in its efforts to bring Unit 15 and 27 back online as quickly and safely as possible.   

     WAPA reported March 30th that Unit 15 had briefly returned to service before a separate electrical issue in the unit’s electrical system caused another shutdown. The Authority said technicians identified the malfunctioning component and are addressing its replacement, and hope to have the unit restored back to service to avoid rotating power. 

     “My commitment is stronger today than it was when I made the statement that we will fix WAPA,” the Governor stated. “That was never a boastful promise. It was a bold commitment to stay the course on a plan to turn this Authority around, even knowing full well there would be painful moments like this along the way.”

     The Governor spoke of additional repair work that is already in motion. WAPA said Unit 23 has been offline since May 2025 after major gearbox damage, but those repairs are funded in the current fiscal year and are underway. WAPA further reported that Unit 27 was damaged during a weather event in December 2025, that key components have been fabricated off island, and that those parts are expected to arrive in the first two weeks of April, with the Unit projected to return to service by early May. 

     Governor Bryan said the recent outages underscore why the Administration has pushed aggressively on both near term repairs and long-term transformation of the grid. He noted that bids have already been received for the prudent replacement of generation at both the Randolph Harley Power Plant on St. Thomas and the Richmond Power Plant on St. Croix, and that the Territory is now in the final stages of the selection of contractors for those major infrastructure projects. 

     He also pointed to the Bovoni and Fortuna solar and battery projects, which are expected to add about 35 megawatts of additional capacity to the St. Thomas-St. John District when they come online. Those facilities are expected to reduce the likelihood of islandwide outages by this summer. 

     “People are frustrated, and they have every right to be,” said the Governor. “But even in the middle of those setbacks, the work to turn this system around is moving. Crews are working feverishly to restore generation, the path to replacing old units is advancing, and more solar and battery capacity is on the way. That does not ease the hardship families have felt, but it should remind all of us that we are not standing still.”

     Governor Bryan called for clearer and more consistent public communication from WAPA about generation issues, restoration timelines, and the steps being taken to bring additional capacity online. He said the work to modernize the Territory’s energy infrastructure is difficult and takes time, but emphasized that the administration remains committed to building a stronger, more reliable, and more resilient electrical system for the people of the Virgin Islands.