New blackouts due to a generation capacity deficit in Cuba despite the SEN being synchronized.

This Tuesday, the synchronization of the National Electric System (SEN) was achieved, but this does not mean that blackouts in Cuba will come to an end; blackouts that, according to the forecast from the Electric Union (UNE) for today, will reach 1,042 MW during the peak hours of this Wednesday.

"The normal operating regime has begun, which does not mean that there are no service disruptions. There continues to be a deficit in generation capacity; therefore, there will be interruptions in service, but the system itself is already being operated in a normal operating regime," said Lázaro Guerra Hernández, general director of Electricity at the Ministry of Energy and Mines (MINEM), in statements to Cuban Television.

The SEN connected at 2:44 p.m., but in the evening, with the system already connected and operating "in total normality," the maximum impact due to a generation capacity deficit was 986 MW at 7:30 p.m., coinciding with peak hour.

Yesterday, the electrical service was affected for 24 hours without being restored during the early hours of today.

This morning, demand dropped to 48 MW of impact because "the night was cooler," Guerra Hernández said, referring to a lower use of air conditioning equipment in homes.

At 7:00 a.m. today, the availability of the SEN was 1,880 MW, compared to a demand of 2,100 MW, leaving 310 MW out of service due to a capacity deficit.

By noon on this October 23, an impact of 650 MW is expected.

At this time, there are four malfunctioning thermoelectric units: one of them, unit 3 of Santa Cruz del Norte, is in the process of starting up for peak demand hours; and unit 1 of Santa Cruz is expected to start afterwards, but also today, according to the official from MINEM.

The other two units that will remain out of service are the 8 from Mariel and the 3 from Carlos Manuel de Céspedes.

In addition, unit 2 of the Santa Cruz CTE and unit 5 of the Renté CTE are undergoing maintenance.

The limitations in thermal generation total 629 MW.

Currently, 24 distributed generation plants are out of service due to a lack of fuel, which represents a loss of 95 MW.

For peak hours - as mentioned previously - the start of operations of unit 3 of the CTE Santa Cruz is expected, with 50 MW; in addition to units 3 and 4 of Energas Varadero, with 30 MW and 18 MW, respectively.

With these forecasts, a availability of 1,978 MW and a maximum demand of 2,950 MW for peak hour is expected, which would imply a deficit of 972 MW.

If these conditions persist, an impact of 1,042 MW is forecasted during that time.

"The positive thing is that the system is already operating under normal operational conditions; what needs to be managed is the impact on service based on the generation capacity we have and how demand behaves," said Lázaro Guerra.

"Right now, the impacts are equitable throughout the country. And the entire system is interconnected. Therefore, the impacts are based on the 'impact strategy' that was in place before the system collapse occurred," he concluded.