In an emergency meeting on Thursday, the members of WAPA’s governing board approved a resolution to ratify the substantially final terms and provisions of the Eighth Supplemental Resolution, including the Placement Agreement and Deposit Account Control Agreement (DACA) for bond anticipation notes (BANs) totaling $33.9 million, WAPA has announced.
The notes refinanced the 2016A BANs prior to their December 7 maturity dates. The BANs authorized Thursday will mature in July 2020 and the interest rate will be 7%.
According to Jean P. Greaux Jr., director of corporate communications at WAPA, the refinancing approved by the governing board allows WAPA to complete the LED streetlight project while seeking longer term financing as the post-2017 hurricane recovery continues. Mr. Greaux told The Consortium in a statement that the project also includes addition of solar panels to selected light poles across the territory.
“Once the project is complete, the panels will provide solar energy to the grid during the daytime hours, somewhere in the neighborhood of 3 megawatts. That becomes 3 megawatts WAPA does not have to generate using oil or LPG fuel. The extra energy provided to the grid helps to offset the cost of operating the streetlights at night. Overall, the cost of streetlights will be significantly less as a result of the energy efficiency realized through the use of LED lighting,” Mr. Greaux said.
In other action, the board approved the release of WAPA’s recently completed 2017 audited financial statements to various stakeholders, as required.
Board members in attendance included Chairwoman Elizabeth Armstrong, Vice Chairman Hubert Turnbull, Secretary Juanita Young, Commissioner Devin Carrington, Director Marvin Pickering, Gerald T. Groner, Esq., Noel Loftus, and Cheryl Boynes Jackson. Commissioner Nelson Petty, Jr., was excused.
Tags: streetlights, usvi, wapa
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