The Electric Union (UNE) of Cuba reported today that this Sunday there were blackouts on the island amounting to 1,341 MW, which, as is customary, is a figure higher than what they had estimated, and also above the 1,325 recorded on Saturday night.
Although the situation is supposedly expected to improve a little by this Monday, the forecast for blackouts on this last day of September remains above 1,100 MW, largely due to fuel shortages, as UNE only reports three thermoelectric units out of service due to breakdowns.
On September 29, the service was affected due to a generation capacity deficit for 24 hours a day, and it continued throughout the night.
The maximum impact during peak hours was 1,341 MW at 8:20 p.m., coinciding with peak hours. This figure was higher than the 1,278 MW that had been estimated.
The availability of the National Electroenergetic System (SEN) at 7:00 a.m. today was 1,890 MW and the demand was 2,610 MW, with 740 MW affected by capacity deficit.
For the midday schedule this Monday, the blackout forecast is extremely high: 950 MW.
Despite the complicated situation, initially the UNE only reports three thermal power units out of service and one under maintenance.
The Mariel unit 6, the Felton CTE unit 2, and the Renté CTE unit 5 are out of service due to breakdown.
Unit 2 of the Santa Cruz CTE is under maintenance.
The limitations in thermal generation are 512 MW, a very high figure.
47 distributed generation plants are out of service due to fuel, as well as the Patana of Santiago de Cuba, engines in the Patana of Melones, and the Patana of Regla for a total of 594 MW, of which 305 MW are in distributed groups and 289 MW in the patanas.
For the peak, it is estimated that the recovery of 100 MW will come from distributed generation engines that are out of service due to fuel, the addition of 10 engines in the Melones plant with 160 MW, the addition of the Regla plant with 45 MW, and the entry of unit 6 from Mariel, with 65 MW.
These inputs are the ones that slightly improve the forecast for today: it is estimated that during peak hours there will be an availability of 2,260 MW and a maximum demand of 3,300 MW, resulting in a deficit of 1,040 MW.
If the expected conditions persist, a demand of 1,110 MW is forecasted at this time, a figure lower than yesterday's forecast but still very high.
The bleak outlook has generated hundreds of comments on the Facebook profile of the Unión Eléctrica, where some Cubans choose to express their frustration about the blackouts on the island, which has become for many the fundamental problem they face daily, in a context where there are many battle fronts to overcome in everyday life.
"Oil is the basis of everything"; "Those who govern the country should be ashamed"; "Don't work any harder and just turn everything off. It's better to turn everything off than to be in this desperation"; "In short, life goes on as usual, I mean, if you can call it life"; "They are destroying people's mental health," were some comments.
"Hand over the country, you can't handle it," stated a citizen, echoing a recurring sentiment in recent years, during which the ineffectiveness of Díaz-Canel's government to address the growing crisis has been evidenced time and again.
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