Blackouts in Havana increase to four hours daily due to "emergency"

The Electric Company of Havana reported this Friday on the need to increase blackouts to four hours in the capital due to a significant deficit in the electricity generation of the National Electric System (SEN).

According to the information note published on Facebook, customers associated with Blocks #3 and #4 of the city will face "emergency" power outages lasting four hours daily, specifically between 10:00 am and 2:00 pm.

This measure responds to the serious energy crisis the country is experiencing, exacerbated by the recent shutdown of the Antonio Guiteras thermoelectric plant and the suspension of five other units due to breakdowns, the entity specified.

The prolonged blackouts will continue in the coming days, affecting the daily life of the people in Havana, who usually tend to be less affected by the service interruptions that are more frequent in the rest of the country.

The UNE had already announced for this Friday a deficit of almost 800 MW during peak hours, with an impact of 350 MW during medium demand. On Thursday, the electrical service was interrupted from 7:13 PM to 1:19 AM, with a maximum impact of 786 MW at 8:30 PM.

The situation has been exacerbated by the inoperability of six units at the thermoelectric plants of Santa Cruz, Guiteras, Felton, and Rente, as well as the lack of fuel that has left 51 distributed generation plants out of service, representing an additional impact of 190 MW.

The Antonio Guiteras thermoelectric plant, the largest in the country, suffered a "problem" with the oil control, which has forced the repair work to extend to seven days, instead of the initially planned 24 hours. This new setback comes just two months after its last synchronization to the system, further worsening the energy crisis facing Cuba.