(CabinetNotes)The Cabinet invited the APUA Water manager, the Chief Financial Officer of APUA, and the Manager of the Electricity Department to address three (3) matters.
i. The adequate supply of potable water: APUA produces a little more than 7 million gallons of water daily but demand exceeds 11 million gallons daily; making up that shortfall is to be achieved by building a 3.5 million gallon plant at Bethesda, and adding several smaller plants at Fort James and Ffryes. 60% of all desalinated water that is produced comes from the units at Crabbes; any catastrophe there can adversely affect the water supply throughout Antigua. Two of six units at Crabbes have been refurbished; they are 30 years old. The plant at Ffryes has been recently upgraded to 85% capacity.
ii. The APUA Electricity Manager shared with Cabinet the reasons for a spate of electricity outages during the past weekend. While undergoing maintenance, a failure at the Friars Hill substation led to automatic load-shedding that caused many homeowners to suffer a loss of electricity. A feeder was overloaded and caused a loss of 14 megawatts at Black Pine (Antigua Power Company) to be out for many hours. The challenges have now been overcome and home owners are now back to normal.
iii. The Cabinet was informed that two massive tanks, built for Liquid Natural Gas (LNG) storage, have been installed near the LNG Electricity Plant that ought to come into commission in October. The LNG Plant will provide electricity that will exceed the peak use of power, by more than 10 megawatts. The LNG plant will be cheaper to operate and will reduce the carbon footprint of Antigua and Barbuda; it will become the property of APUA through a BOOT (Build Own Operate Transfer) arrangement.
