Energy crisis in Cuba: Blackouts of four hours a day in Havana due to generation deficit

The blackouts have worsened since the beginning of this week in the Cuban capital, and this Wednesday, areas of at least 11 municipalities were without electricity for four hours “due to a deficit in generation capacity,” according to astatement of the Havana Electric Company.

In the middle ofworsening of the energy crisis, after the stoppage of the “Antonio Guiteras” thermoelectric plant in Matanzas, at the end of February and for 17 days, the government began this week to increase the interruptions of the electrical service in Havana, the province least affected so far by theconstant and prolonged blackouts that keep most of the Cuban population in permanent anxiety.

Until the previous week, the Havana Electric Company only announced service interruptions due to maintenance of electrical installations in certain areas of the city, between 8 a.m. and 7 p.m. and 4 p.m.; but starting this Monday he started programmingfour-hour blackouts every day, in almost all of the municipalities.

As announced this Wednesday, due to “the current conditions of the SEN (National Electroenergy System)” it was “necessary to affect the service due to a deficit in generation capacity in the capital. Today it corresponds to block No. 4, from 10:00 am to 2:00 pm.”

The note, published on Facebook just half an hour before the cutoff, had limited user comments, a fairly common practice for state institutions when they issue notes announcing measures that could spark criticism and protests from citizens.

On Monday,another Facebook post from the Havana electricity company warned that40 city circuits, corresponding to block No. 2, would be turned off for four hours, from 10 a.m. until 2 p.m., “due to the deficit in generation capacities that has been occurring in the country.” The cut included once “privileged” residential areas, such as several areas of the exclusive Miramar neighborhood.

However, the state entity made the “announcement” at 11:30 in the morning, when the blackout was already a reality for thousands of people, a fact that was highly criticized by users in the comments of the post. According to some testimonies, after 4 in the afternoon, the company had not yet restored the electrical service in several locations in the city; while in others, they had just interrupted it again.

This Tuesday, the state company announced four-hour blackouts in areas of the 15 municipalities of the capital, corresponding to several circuits of block No. 3.

Meanwhile, in recent weeks,Blackouts of more than 12 hours are being recorded in almost the entire country..

In the province of Holguín, the electricity company warned in astatement that, due to a generation deficit “that may be greater than 140 MW during the night peak,” this Wednesday some circuits could be “affected for an estimated time greater than 12 hours.”

The entity warned that “due to the outage of service byBreakage of unit 4 of the Carlos Manuel de Céspedes thermoelectric plant, in Cienfuegos, the already difficult situation that we had been going through with respect to the deficit has increased,” citing the announcement made this Wednesday by the Electrical Union (UNE) of Cuba.

At the end of February,The Villa Clara government had promised not to extend the blackouts more than 12 hours a day in that territory, after leavingto the SEN of the Antonio Guiteras thermoelectric plant.

AlsoThey stopped the operations of the Nuevitas thermoelectric plant, in Camagüey, to carry out “planned maintenance” that will last until April.

TheA has been reporting for several daysgeneration deficits greater than 1,000 MW throughout the country, mainly during peak hours, which implies service cuts for prolonged periods in almost all provinces.

Since the previous week, the Cuban population has once again been harmed by ahuge increase in blackouts, and according to testimonies, people spend most of each day without electrical service.

Meanwhile, the government decided to implement contingency regime no. 1, which focuses on extreme savings measures during peak consumption times, known as peaks.

The prohibition on the use of administrative air conditioners at all times is in force; turn off everything in the work centers during the established hours, except those of continuous production; paralyze non-essential work activities and promote teleworking or remote work.

It was also indicated to limit lighting in hallways, stairs and common areas in work centers; in addition to prohibiting the use of electric ovens and water pumping in the state sector, during peak hours.