The Electric Union of Cuba (UNE) predicted an improvement in thermal electricity generation for the summer and estimated that it will increase by about 100 MW compared to the same period last year.
The Director of Maintenance of UNE, Julio González Céspedes, stated to Granma on Tuesday that the country's thermoelectric plants should contribute an average of 1,200 MW to the national electrical system (SEN) for the months of July and August.
If achieved, the figure would exceed by 100 MW the amount reached in the summer of 2023, and by 200 MW the one established in the same period in 2022. However, González Céspedes acknowledged that this generation falls far short of the installed capacity of 1,993 MW.
The manager explained to the official organ of the Communist Party of Cuba (PCC) the maintenance and repair plan planned to face a summer with fewer blackouts than the past. But he also announced that, after that period, several thermal generation units will continue to receive maintenance, such as the one planned for Unit 4 of the Carlos Manuel de Céspedes Thermoelectric Plant in Cienfuegos.
Said Unit will receive an extended partial maintenance (over 130 days), for the replacement of parts of the regenerative air heaters (CAR) and the economizers of the boiler.
Likewise, it was stated that block one of the CTE Lidio Ramón Pérez, in Felton, received light maintenance for 25 days, involving actions such as washing the boiler, changing pipes in a critical sector, and replacing damaged baskets in the air preheaters, after which it returned contributing 230 MW. For the summer, it is expected that this CTE will generate between 215 and 225 MW.
However, this Thursday the news of a rupture in the boiler tubes of Unit 1 of Felton was known, which forced it to be disconnected from the National Electric System (SEN). As the Minister of Energy and Mines, Vicente de la O Levy, had proudly explained, the 25-day light maintenance had served to clean the 22,000 tubes that cooled it.
The incident, which forced a minimum three-day stoppage, adds to similar ones in other power plants in the country, which experience breakdowns shortly after completing repair or maintenance cycles, like Unit 6 in Nuevitas.
Despite UNE managers insisting that it is "normal", many experts fear that the interventions by Cuban technicians and workers may not be entirely satisfactory, or that the information simply does not correspond to reality, and the constant "repairs and maintenance" are a pretext to conceal the dimensions of the energy crisis in the country.
González Céspedes pointed out that, although the Guiteras plant has gone 13 years without major maintenance, in the summer it will reach an average power output of between 250 and 260 MW. This will be possible thanks to a four-day shutdown before July, during which the CAR baskets will be cleaned. These baskets are often soiled by the type of fuel used (Cuban crude oil with a high sulfur content).
From promise to promise, Cubans see time passing by amidst "empty promises."
At the end of August 2023, the Cuban government boasted about an improvement in generation capacity during the summer. Additionally, it ensured that UNE was designing "a set of actions" to guarantee the balance with demand in the summer months of 2024, as reported in a note from the official newspaper Trabajadores.
Last May, the UNE reported that power outages would increase during the month of June due to maintenance work on several Thermoelectric Power Plants (CTE).
As has been reported from January to June, maintenance activities at the Thermal Power Plants, Energas, and Distributed Generation are increasing with the purpose of reaching the months of highest consumption and electrical demand, which are July and August, also months of population rest," a note posted by the entity on Facebook explained.
Likewise, the state-owned company stated that it would comply with "the maintenance plan until the last days of June" in order to minimize disruptions during the summer. However, it clarified that there will also be power outages in July and August "if there are unexpected shutdowns of Generation Units."
At the end of that month, the ruler Miguel Díaz-Canel announced what the people of Cuba had feared since blackouts worsened: they couldn't guarantee that the summer months would pass without disruptions in the electrical service.
"We will have prolonged maintenance works until the month of June to minimize the inconvenience of power outages in the summer, especially in the months of July and August," he indicated.
On the other hand, in mid-April, the Ministry of the Interior (MININT) announced that it expected protests in Cuba this summer and blamed the government of the United States, and politicians from that country, for inciting public disorder on the island amid the current energy crisis.
The United States is launching new attempts to "heat up" the streets during the summer, taking advantage of the complex situation in the country, according to the latest interests of its intelligence agencies to generate attacks against Cuba, in what they call Operation 11.7.24," said Minint on the social network X.
The repressive organ of the Cuban regime considered that the alleged attacks would have "as a prioritized objective the national electro-energetic system, due to its impact on the quality of life of the people."
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