After a Tuesday with 1,135 MW of power outages in Cuba (above the 940 forecasted) and a Wednesday that promises 1,150 MW of impacts, as revealed by the report from the Unión Eléctrica (UNE) for today, Cubans must prepare for a tough week.
The worst part is that the situation is not expected to improve until Sunday.
Lázaro Guerra Hernández, general director of Electricity at the Ministry of Energy and Mines (MINEM), pointed out on August 21 during his daily appearance on Cuban Television that the reactivation of unit 4 of the Carlos Manuel de Céspedes thermoelectric plant in Cienfuegos is not expected until Sunday; and unit 1 of Felton in Holguín, whose shutdown due to malfunctions caused a significant increase in power outages in recent hours.
By August 25, with the presumed reactivation of the aforementioned thermoelectric units, which total 320 MW between the two, an improvement in the situation is expected.
"The 4 from Cienfuegos and the 1 from Felton are undergoing boiler work and have their cooling process, taking between four and five days for both to be integrated into the system," indicated Guerra Hernández.
"They have identified the problem and what remains is to work on it. We have the staff working in continuous shifts," added the executive, who is becoming more and more uncomfortable in his role despite having the full support of journalist Bernardo Espinosa, who is trying to make it easier for him.
Although the engineer pointed out that there are only three units out of service, the two mentioned plus unit 1 from Santa Cruz, towards the end of his intervention he hinted that on the morning of this Wednesday, unit 1 from Nuevitas also went out of operation for 40 hours to "check the air heaters," something he described as "short work."
In the case of unit 1 in Santa Cruz, its reintegration is not expected until the beginning of September because "it has a problem with the turbine that requires long cooling," the executive claimed.
In this context, Guerra Hernández warned several times that the situation will not improve until Sunday with the incorporation of Céspedes (100 MW) and Felton (200 MW), which together total 320 MW.
Yesterday, the service was affected due to a generation capacity deficit for 24 hours, and the disruption could not be resolved.
The maximum impact of the day was 1,135 MW at 8:40 PM, coinciding with peak hours.
The availability of the SEN at 7:00 a.m. today was 2,240 MW and the demand was 2,500 MW, with an impact of 400 MW.
It is estimated that during the daytime there will be a maximum impact of 650 MW due to a generation capacity deficit.
The limitations in thermal generation are 403 MW.
33 distributed generation plants are out of service due to fuel, totaling 170 MW affected by this issue.
For the peak, a availability of 2,170 MW is estimated and a maximum demand of 3,250 MW, resulting in a deficit of 1,080 MW, so if the projected conditions remain, an impact of 1,150 MW is forecasted during this time.
What do you think?
SEE COMMENTS (6)Filed under:
