“Not for Profit: ‘God’s Gift’ Becomes Community’s Gain”

Renewable-energy advocates often say we must use the gift of natural resources – wind and sun. St. Croix Reformed Church took the gift idea to the ultimate, using the wind to give a gift to local students.

Pictured right: Alfredo Andres assistant principal Anna Marie Gordon, left, and secretary Sherika Milligan, with the donated copier. (Photo provided by the Rev. Rod Koopmans)

When in 2012 the church installed a wind turbine with funding from the V.I. Energy Office, it made a commitment to use the savings for the island’s benefit. After a year of operation and accumulation of savings, the church reached out this fall to the nearby Alfredo Andrews Elementary School to determine its needs and how the church could assist.

Principal Joan A. Claxton responded that the school copy machine had recently failed and a replacement was needed. The church purchased, with savings from its Water and Power bill, a used machine and had it serviced by Adan Business Machines, then delivered it to the school.

“Ms. Claxton and I are so thrilled and grateful for the donation of the copier,” Gordon says. “This was truly a need that the Reformed Church responded to.”

The church’s 10-kilowatt turbine is hooked into WAPA through the net metering program designed by the Energy Office.

So far, the Reformed Church is the only institution that has turned its savings into a method of giving directly back to the community. Several organizations that net meter have expressed an interest in giving the excess energy they produce to non-profits. However the logistics and the economics do not appear to work for the power company.

For more information about the Turbine and its current output,  go to https://stcroixreformed.org/our-wind-turbine/

Energy Office spokesperson Don Buchanan said the American Recovery and Reinvestment grant for the turbine was $50,000 and the church contributed $16,500 to the project. He said the turbine will pay for itself in eight years.

“The church is not waiting for the turbine to pay for itself,” Buchanan said. “It’s putting the savings back into the community right now. The church is doing exactly what it said it would do in its grant application and we are very happy about that.”

“We will, from time to time, be making additional donations,” Koopmans said.

Students from the St Croix Math and Environmental Science Academy visited our church last week to learn about Wind energy and turbine technology. Led by Carl Joseph from the VI Energy Office (pictured below), the students learned the science of how turbines capture and convert wind to electrical energy to power the St Croix grid.

“Who knows, maybe you have come to this royal position f
or just such a time as this.”
Esther 4:14

Carl Joseph and students from the St Croix Math and Science Academy

 Photo from Don Buchanan

For Detailed Information about the St Croix Reformed Turbine, go to https://stcroixreformed.org/our-wind-turbine/

See photos of the Turbine “Turn it On” Party at https://stcroixreformed.org/2012/03/02/wind-turbine-ceremony-photos/

———————————

Archive:

As recently announced in worship, our church will hold the “Turbine Turn It On” Party on Wednesday, February 29th at 5 p.m.

All members and friends of the church and Kingshill School are encouraged to attend.  Bring your neighbors!

For more information about the wind turbine, go to https://stcroixreformed.org/our-wind-turbine/

The St Croix Reformed Church will hold a brief GROUNDBREAKING CEREMONY for our 10 kw Wind Turbine this Sunday November 13th.

See photos of this event

Preliminary Construction Schedule:

Nov 13th: Ground Breaking

Nov 14-24: Digging and pouring of the tower slab.

Late November: Digging and installation of electrical cables. Installation of electrical converters.

Mid December: Bolting of the tower to the slab. Assembly of the turbine to the tower.

“Turning it on” Party ….t.b.a.

For more information about the Wind Turbine, its cost, construction and expected benefits, go to https://stcroixreformed.org/our-wind-turbine/

—

St Croix Reformed Wind Turbine Update:

Here’s a video of a 10 kilowatt wind turbine in action on St Croix’s south shore. Our turbine is 10kw as well and will look like this one.

The tower’s hydraulic base seen in the video is a slightly older model from Redriven Inc.  Ours will look like this:

The hyrdaulically operated tower can be lowered for storms and maintenance.

The grant was applied for September 8, 2010 and awarded December 21, 2010.

Here is the estimated INSTALLATION TIMELINE:

January 2011: 
Filing of grant acceptance paperwork.
Filing of “Earth Change” permit with DPNR
Filing of Engineering Report
Receipt of grant funds

Early February 2011:
Deposit made to start manufacturing of tower and purchase of turbine

March 2011:
Construction of Concrete Pad
Posting of sign at road announcing construction

April 2011:
Begin electrical work (installation of net meter, conduits, converters, computer)

May 2011:
Arrival on island of Turbine and Tower from Canada
Erect tower/turbine
Throw the switch and a party!

– – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – – –

The funds for this project were made available in part by a grant administered by the Virgin Islands Energy Office from funds provided by the U.S. Energy Department,  Grant Award Number DE-EE0000223, The American Recovery and Reinvestment Act of 2009.

Budget: 
$50,000 VIEO Grant
$16,500 Loan from the SCRC Reserve Fund (to be paid back from energy savings)

Get new posts emailed to your inbox by clicking this Google Feedburner link and entering your email address.

–

–

Reverend Rod received  official word Monday December 27th that our church has been awarded a $50,000 grant from the Virgin Islands Energy Office to install a 10 Kilowatt Wind Turbine !

The Church Consistory, having unaimously approved the proposal earlier in the fall, has reviewed the details and filed the final papers to accept the funds and begin the installation process. 

In January 2011 the permitting and engineering process begins, followed by placing the order for the turbine & tower. Once ordered, it will take approximately 90 days for the pad to be constructed and the equipment to arrive.  If all goes well, we could be flipping the switch sometime in May.

The church’s out of pocket contribution is approximately $16,500. This money will be borrowed from the church’s reserve funds and paid back by electricity savings per a 7 year schedule.

The turbine’s output will be “net-metered” into the island’s power grid. Every kilowatt the turbine produces will be credited on our WAPA bill.  The grant money was made available through the US Dept of Energy as part of the Economic Stimulus Plan. Because the cost of electricity in the USVI is the highest in the US, the turbine is projected to save the church upwards of $700 a month on its electricity bill. 

In addition to paying back the reserve fund, savings will be redirected into 3 special funds:  

(1) To provide energy related benevolence to the St Croix community and energy improvements to the church building.

(2)  To provide additional instructional help to The Kingshill School.

(3) To provide maintaince and eventual replacement funds for the turbine.

The innovative way in which the church proposed to distribute the savings was part of what caught the grant committee’s eye. In addition to generating savings, it is the church’s hope that the prominent location of the turbine will stimulate discussion and demonstrate the feasibility of wind power on the islands, as well as, make people aware that there is a warm and welcoming Reformed congregation up in La Reine!

Guiding us through the permit and installation process will be Steffen Larsen and Rich Carpenter from “Cruzan Power” –alternative energy & wind experts here on St Croix, and both of whom have installed 10k wind turbines at their homes. Cruzan Power is assisting the church without fee in order to promote wind power on the islands.  (See photos in previous post of our meeting with them.)

For more specific details about the Grant Proposal, and for details about the specific Wind Turbine and tower, including a video, see the previous post on the subject at https://stcroixreformed.org/2010/09/05/consistory-approves-wind-turbine-proposal/

Our thanks to the members of the Grant Proposal Task Force!

Don Bailey, Will Borden, Michael Mongeau, Stan Joines, George Novey, Neil MacQueen, Rod & Janie Koopmans, with technical advice provided by Don Buchanan.

The Consistory has  authorized Rod Koopmans and Neil MacQueen to form a new “Wind  Committee” to oversee installation and operation. Arguably, this is the most appropriately titled church committee ever.  If you are interested in being part of that team, let them know. As we move forward, the comittee will be posting progress reports and sharing more details about the turbine and tower.

Members of the Wind Committee and their functions on the committee:

Don Bailey,accounting, Consistory liason

Michael Mongeau, grant compliance, education/promotion, Kingshill School rep.

Neil MacQueen, Committee coordinator,  liason to Cruzan Power, education/promotion

Will Borden, installation/contractor oversight

George Novey, installation/contractor oversight

Rod Koopmans, staff raconteur