Antigua: Dredge Bay housing project gets underground wiring

A “fully functional” underground wiring system has been installed at the Dredge Bay housing project, according to the Antigua Public Utilities Authority.

The system is designed to facilitate electrical power distribution.

More than 11,000 volts of power will be transmitted through the underground cables to power the 48 homes.

“It is the much better installation out of the underground and overhead; fewer losses meaning kilowatt losses in the event [that] a hurricane might pass. We’ll have less down time”, Eustace Lynch, supervisor in the Electricity Business Unit, said.

Damage to overhead lines due to natural disasters, the likelihood of erosion as a result of weathering and wires pulled down by large trucks are significantly reduced, Lynch added.

Low maintenance

The primary line of 11,000 volts is five feet underground, while the secondary wires supplying 240 and 120 volts run approximately three feet below the surface.

The wires are threaded through PVC pipes via manholes throughout the housing community.

This technology is low maintenance, only requiring routine checks at terminations points, transformers, panels and meter bases.

It also provides a safer alternative to overhead wiring, APUA said.

Reduced carbon footprint

APUA has already installed 22 solar-powered lights.

These lights are “independent of the utility grid leading to lower operational cost”, they said, depending instead on heat energy from the sun.

Energy is stored in batteries.

In addition, APUA have said that solar streetlights require less maintenance cost than the existing high-pressure sodium and mercury vapour lights.