On the last day of July, it became evident once again that the Cuban government was unable to fulfill its promise of a summer without blackouts.
In its daily report, the Electric Union (UNE) of Cuba informed that this Tuesday, the service was affected due to a deficit in generation capacity throughout the 24 hours of the day.
The maximum impact yesterday was 753 MW at 9:00 p.m., a value higher than planned due to the unexpected outage of unit 5 at the Nuevitas thermoelectric plant.
Although the service was restored at 4:52 a.m. today, at 6:49 a.m. the service began to be impacted again due to a deficit in generation capacity.
The availability of the SEN at 7:00 a.m. was 2,480 MW and the demand was 2,500 MW, with 20 MW affected in the system.
For the daytime schedule, a forecast of power outages is estimated at around 450 MW.
Four units from four different thermal power plants are out of operation due to a malfunction.
They are: unit 1 of CTE Santa Cruz, unit 5 of CTE Nuevitas, unit 6 of CTE Rente, and unit 2 of CTE Felton.
There is no thermoelectric unit under maintenance.
The limitations in thermal generation are 428 MW. There are 57 distributed generation plants out of service due to fuel, affecting a total of 381 MW.
It is estimated that during peak hours there will be a supply of 2,480 MW and a maximum demand of 3,180 MW, resulting in a deficit of 700 MW.
If the expected conditions persist, blackouts are forecasted in the order of 770 MW during nighttime hours.
Lázaro Guerra Hernández, general director of Electricity at the Ministry of Energy and Mines (MINEM), said this Wednesday in statements to Cuban Television that the current weather conditions, which elevate the thermal sensation, increase the use of refrigeration and air conditioning equipment, which in turn drives up energy demand throughout the day.
He indicated that this increase in consumption is difficult to manage due to the lack of fuel for distributed generation and the unavailability of several generating units that are out of service.
Guerra Hernández assured that these units are expected to resume operations between tomorrow and the day after tomorrow.
In the comments section of the written report from the UNE, numerous internet users expressed indignation or mockery about a situation that is a never-ending story.
"If they were paid for unfulfilled promises, Cuba would be Dubai," asserted an internet user.
"I think it's really a waste of time the part of the SEN from those two little buddies! They don't provide anything worth it... It's always bad news, and with what we know, we don't need more... This is a never-ending story!" noted another.
"Summer with electricity only for the capital and privileged circuits. The rest save themselves as best they can. Blackouts knock on our doors thanks to the inefficiency and mismanagement of our leaders who live oblivious to reality or pretend to be blind," commented a third party.
Another indicated that the Renté and the Felton never enter the SEN, and that it's just the tale of the good pipe.
"The poor, they who are so worried about what is happening in Venezuela, as if there are no problems here, as if everything is going so well..." concluded another commentator with irony.
What do you think?
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