Solar companies are abundant in the U.S. Virgin Islands now, but it was not that way 33 years ago. There were thee, maybe four, installers in the islands. Beech Higby III, who founded West Indies Solair on St. Croix in 1980, was one of them. He said he saw a magazine called “Solar Age” back then and thought solar was pretty cool.
He adds, “My first wife and I needed something to do and, of course, we wanted to help save the world.”
He began installing solar water heaters and solar electric systems long before they became popular. The systems he installed in the early years were more difficult than the systems he now installs.
Back then, a system became a system because the installer made it a system. Now, people will tell you that all PV systems today don’t come in a box with all the parts and with detailed instructions where everything goes. They would be correct. Installers still have their work cut out for them – sizing the system for the specific customer, taking into account the customers electricity use, location and available space for panels.
Customers’ wishes can be difficult. They have favourite trees they don’t want to cut down; their roofs seldom face perfectly in the right direction and at the right slope. In recent years, there have been questions about net metering. How is the utility going to pay me for the excess electricity I produce? What do you mean they wipe the slate clean after the end of the year? What? You have to be kidding me, when the utility loses power, I will be shut down.
When the customer finds out that his net-metering system goes down when the utility goes down, he might start arguing that he doesn't want to net meter; that he doesn’t want to be connected to the utility at all. Beech will then have to explain to them that, if they want power when the utility is down; they are going to have to have a parcel of batteries or a generator. The batteries require maintenance and they can be expensive. This is when the customer might decide to back up and discuss again exactly what a simple grid tied system is? But Beech has overcome those obstacles often. In a recent email he stated, “I have personally installed well over 500 solar hot water heaters equaling over 18,000 square feet of collector, which is the equivalent of over 1 megawatt of electricity being produced each day. I have also personally installed over 100 kilowatts of solar electric systems, most without batteries.”
The first time this writer talked with Beech about solar installations. It was about eight years ago and Beech wanted everyone to first understand the challenges of solar systems. His explanation, in the words as I remember them, went like this:
“Installing a one kilowatt system is going to cost you at least $10,000. You average five hours of perfect sun in the Virgin Islands each day. This means that you will produce about 5 kilowatt hours of power each day. Since the cost of kilowatt hour here is about 25 cents. Each day you produce about a dollar and a quarter of power each day. It takes a while to pay off a $10,000 investment.”
But a lot has changed since then. The cost of power in the Virgin islands has tripled and the cost of panels has been cut in half. In other words, if a project took sixteen years to pay for itself back then; it now only takes less than four years. It is without a doubt a good investment now.
Beech won’t say that he is getting rich, but he does say he stays busy. He adds with pride that his business has been built around customer satisfaction and word of mouth advertising.
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