Cuba experienced one of the most critical days of its current energy crisis this Saturday, with a power generation deficit that reached 1,487 MW during peak hours.
The situation, which affected the service for 24 continuous hours, worsened due to the shutdown of several key plants in the National Electroenergetic System (SEN), leaving a large part of the population without electricity during the night, the Electric Union (UNE) stated on its Facebook page.
The technical director of the UNE, Lázaro Guerra Hernández, provided an update to the island's television: Among the causes of this collapse are the emergency shutdown of unit 1 of the Santa Cruz Thermoelectric Power Plant (CTE), problems at the Jaruco Energy Plant due to weather conditions, and limitations in the load of unit 3 of the CTE Cienfuegos, among other causes.
This Sunday, at 7:00 a.m., the available capacity of the SEN was only 1,780 MW compared to a demand of 2,500 MW, resulting in a deficit of 750 MW in the early hours of the day.
The outlook will worsen during the peak in the afternoon, with a projected deficit of over 1,000 MW. Despite efforts to restore some units, such as unit 1 of the CTE Santa Cruz and unit 5 of Nuevitas, the SEN will not be able to meet the estimated demand of 3,200 MW. Without a doubt, power outages will continue to affect millions of Cubans.
Breakdowns in the units of the CTEs of Mariel, Felton, and Nuevitas, along with maintenance in Santa Cruz and Renté, have left the electrical grid in a critical situation. In addition, the lack of fuel has taken 45 distributed generation plants out of service, as well as the Patanas of Santiago de Cuba, Melones, and Regla, further reducing the system's response capacity.
With the availability of only 2,155 MW against a much higher demand, the country remains in a situation of extreme vulnerability, with no short-term solution for the growing energy crisis.
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