U.S. VIRGIN ISLANDS– Last Monday, the Virgin Islands Energy Office launched an inaugural test of the Virgin Islands Battery Energy Storage 2.0 Virtual Power Plant. The successful test served to showcase that the network of decentralized residential battery energy storage systems in the Territory can be aggregated into a utility-scale generation asset that can be dispatched to support the grid.
The test, carried out in coordination with Tesla Energy & the Virgin Islands Water and Power Authority, enabled the virtual power plant (VPP) to discharge approximately 1.5 MW of power from 120 different sites spread across all three islands. The energy output from the batteries was safely discharged onto the power grids on St. Croix and
St. Thomas/ St. John. During the 30 minutes the test was live, the VPP produced a measurable decrease in the electrical demand the Randolph Harley and Richmond Power Plants had to supply.
Through VIBES-2.0-VPP the Energy Office is seeking to leverage a proven technology to provide a near-term solution to the reliability and financial challenges that negatively impact the delivery of electrical service in the territory. The VPP offers the grid operator access to an existing energy storage resource that can be discharged to meet operational challenges at a fraction of the cost of installing an equivalent amount of traditional generation capacity. The power can be discharged instantaneously as needed, and if all behind-the-meter batteries in the territory participated, the VPP could curtail significant fuel expenditures.
The VPP allows neighbors to help neighbors, VIEO Director Kyle Fleming said, explaining that for the first time those who have invested in solar and battery storage systems can directly share those benefits beyond the homes & business where the batteries are installed. When fully realized, he added, the VPP will give WAPA the flexibility to deploy its generation assets in more efficient configurations. Grid operators will be able to call on the VPP to stave off load shedding events that would otherwise be necessary during a generation shortfall.
“On Monday, we proved that hundreds of batteries distributed across the Virgin Islands can respond as one coordinated power plant. At a specific moment, we can call on that network and say, ‘the grid needs power,’ and those batteries can respond together, delivering energy when our community needs it most,” Director Fleming said.
VIEO is actively recruiting more Tesla Powerwall owners in the Virgin Island to join the VIBES-2.0 Virtual Power Plant and help grow the network of batteries available to support the grid. During the 2026 launch year, participants can receive $1,000 for each eligible Tesla Powerwall enrolled, up to $4,000, in exchange for allowing a portion of their available battery capacity to be aggregated into a utility-scale resource that can be dispatched during periods of grid need.
This is an opportunity for residents who invested in battery storage for their own resilience to now put those systems to work for the entire community. When generation falls short, the VPP can call on hundreds, and eventually thousands, of batteries simultaneously to help bridge that gap and potentially keep a neighbor from losing power. VIEO has already issued more than $100,000 in participant incentives to build an immediately accessible source of distributed power without waiting for major capital projects, new generation plants, or years of infrastructure construction.
Already tried to enroll but had trouble? If the VPP enrollment option does not appear in your Tesla App, email info@eo.vi.gov with the subject “VPP Nomination” and include a screenshot of your Gateway serial number. If you see the VPP option but cannot complete registration, go to Settings → My Home Info in the Tesla App and confirm your address is set to State: VI and Country: US.
For more information on the VPP, please check out the VIEO website: https://energy.vi.gov/vibes2/.
