(a) (b) Figure 1. The U.S. Virgin Islands: (a) St. Thomas and St. John and (b) St. Croix. (Images courtesy of Google Maps.) 29% of families and 33% of individuals live below the poverty line. This can be compared with a 2009 poverty rate of approximately 14% for the United States. tem, with an installed capacity of 117 MW, a maximum load of approximately 55 MW, and a minimum load of about 35 MW. Although the topography of the ocean floor has prevented the direct interconnection of these two grid systems to date, studies are underway to examine the possibility of connecting both island systems with Puerto Rico and the British Virgin Islands (Figure 4). The grid infrastructure of the U.S. Virgin Islands consists primarily of subtransmission lines (25-115 kV). The two grid systems currently operate at Electric Transmission and Distribution System St. Thomas and St. John are part of one interconnected power system, with an installed capacity of 191 MW, a maximum load of approximately 88 MW, and a minimum load of about 50 MW. The island of St. Croix constitutes a second power sys- Table 1. climate Data for St. Thomas, U.S. Virgin Islands. (Source: weather.com.) January February March April May June July August September October November December Year Record high (°F) 93 93 94 96 97 99 98 99 98 97 95 92 99 Average high (°F) 85 85 86 87 88 89 90 90 90 89 87 86 87.7 Average low (°F) 72 73 73 74 76 78 78 78 78 77 75 74 75.5 Record low (°F) 63 62 56 62 66 67 57 59 64 66 52 62 52 1.48 1.42 2.74 3.06 2.53 2.85 3.74 5.58 5.42 5.23 2.96 39.39 Precipitation (in) 2.38 58 I E E E E l e c t r i f i c ati o n M agaz ine / march 2015http://www.weather.com