U.S. VIRGIN ISLANDS– The Virgin Islands Energy Office dispatched a combined total of 2.5 MWhs of energy during testing of its virtual power plant last Friday. The two half hour tests were carried out on the St. Croix and St. Thomas/St. John power grids respectively, and served to showcase the ability of the system to deploy energy resources flexibly and on demand. As the Virgin Islands Battery Energy Storage 2.0 Virtual Power Plant (VIBES-2.0-VPP) program grows it is moving closer toward the larger objective of using distributed energy resources to shape the load profile of the Virgin Islands electrical grid in real time

                VIEO Director Kyle Fleming initiated the tests with a few keystrokes, sending out a command from within VIEO’s St. Croix VPP nerve center that caused 190 residential batteries spread out across 80 sites on St. Thomas and St. John to begin discharging approximately 800 KW of energy onto the grid. As the energy was dispatched VIEO was able to monitor the output in real time utilizing the PowerHub dashboard maintained by the agency’s VPP operator, Tesla. At the same time, tools created by the Virgin Islands Water and Power Authority (WAPA) allowed VIEO to monitor the VPP’s effect on electrical load.

“We are moving beyond proving that these batteries can discharge on command. We are demonstrating that hundreds of individual systems spread across our islands can be identified and operate together as a coordinated resource and strategically shape what WAPA sees as load,” said VIEO Director Kyle Fleming.

                Upon the successful conclusion of the St. Thomas test, VIEO called another demand response event on St. Croix, this time deploying approximately 500 KW of energy onto the grid. During the test, the 108 participating batteries supplied a steady output of energy, which WAPA was able to see in real time lower demand across individual feeders. With the WAPA and Tesla data streams, operators at VIEO’s command center were able to gain deep insight into the VPP’s impact at both the overall grid and individual feeder levels. This visualization allowed the team to see the coordinated battery dispatch translate into a measurable change in grid demand.

                One of the key measures VIEO monitored during the tests was how many of the batteries enrolled in VIBES-2.0-VPP participated in the events. According to a postmortem review of the tests, no enrollees opted out of participating, demonstrating the VPP community’s willingness to support the grid.

                VIEO is actively working to scale its VPP to meet its potential to be an asset to the grid. Today, the VPP represents only a small portion of peak system demand, but its value can grow considerably with participation. As hundreds of enrolled Powerwall’s become thousands, the aggregated resource can increasingly help shave system peaks, respond to short-duration generation shortfalls that would otherwise result In load shedding events, and provide WAPA with another flexible tool when available generation and customer demand are closely matched. Additionally, VIEO is awaiting approval of a federal grant that would expand VPP eligibility beyond Tesla Powerwalls to batteries from other manufacturers and other distributed energy resources like the battery installations being collocated at new build public schools.

VIEO Calls on Powerwall Owners Territory-Wide

Thousands of Tesla Powerwall’s are already installed at homes and businesses across the Virgin Islands. VIEO is now calling on those owners to help turn that existing network of batteries into a significantly larger community energy resource.

For residents who invested in battery storage to protect their own homes, the VPP creates an opportunity for that same investment to benefit their neighbors. During periods of grid need, participating batteries can respond together to help bridge a generation shortfall and potentially keep other Virgin Islanders from losing power.

To accelerate participation, VIEO is offering $1,000 for each eligible Tesla Powerwall enrolled, up to $4,000 during the 2026 launch year. VIEO has already paid out over $176,000 in participation incentives, with an additional $68,000 currently being processed, bringing total incentives processed to approximately $244,000.

VIEO encourages Tesla Powerwall owners on St. Croix, St. Thomas, and St. John to enroll and help build on the current VPP foundation. The goal is not simply to create a collection of individual backup batteries, but to connect those resources so they can operate together when the Virgin Islands grid needs them most.

If you have a Tesla Powerwall installed in the U.S. Virgin Islands and are interested in learning more about the VIBES 2.0 VPP and enrolling, click the link below from a mobile device with the Tesla App installed: VIBES-2.0-VPP