The Electric Company of Havana reported this Wednesday that, due to a generation deficit in the National Electric System, it was necessary to implement "emergency" power cuts in the afternoon.
According to the statement, Block #3 was affected from 3:00 PM until shortly after 7:00 PM, while part of Block #4, which was initially scheduled for interruption between 6:00 PM and 10:00 PM, also experienced interruptions during the same afternoon timeframe.
The entity apologized to customers for the inconvenience caused, although these emergency outages have raised concerns and criticism due to their frequency and the lack of structural solutions to the energy problem affecting the country.
The outage this Tuesday in Cuba of the Antonio Guiteras Thermoelectric Plant—now referred to by UNE as CTE Matanzas—to “carry out urgent work on the boiler,” has led to the anticipated worsening of the generation deficit on the island.
Yesterday, the maximum affected capacity reached 1,514 MW, slightly below the forecasted 1,594 MW.
The situation does not improve for this Wednesday, as the forecast predicts 1,541 MW of blackouts during peak hours and a very high daytime impact of 1,200 MW.
In the midst of one of the most significant energy crises in recent decades, the Cuban regime is offering the "hope" of eliminating daytime blackouts by 2026 through the use of solar energy.
The Director of Policy and Energy Strategy at the Ministry of Energy and Mines, Ramsés Montes Calzadilla, explained to the official newspaper Granma that a megaproject generating 2,000 megawatts (MW) from solar energy, combined with a battery storage system, will provide an average of 1,400 MW at noon.
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