Felton thermoelectric plant cleans a quarter of its tubes

The Lidio Ramón Pérez Thermoelectric Power Plant (CTE), known as Felton, proudly announced that it has successfully cleaned 5,620 of the more than 22,000 tubes in its condenser since it was disconnected from the National Electroenergetic System (SEN) on Thursday, January 30.

This "titanic effort," which represents approximately 25% of the total, is part of the planned maintenance work that keeps the plant out of the National Electric System for 10 days.

“Gaining time on the maintenance routes of the ETE ‘Lidio Ramón Pérez’ (Felton) without compromising quality. 5,620 tubes have already been cleaned in the condenser of more than 20,000. Today, work continues on the main valves and the boiler skimming,” indicated on Facebook the profile identified as Luz de Lidio, associated with the Holguín thermoelectric plant.

The optimism of Felton's executives is striking, considering that four days have passed (almost half of the initially planned time) and only a quarter of the pipes have been cleaned.

In statements to Radio Ángulo, engineer Eric Milanés Quinzán, the general director of the industry, indicated that the work undertaken includes the cleaning of air heaters in the boiler and condenser, as well as the inspection of two bearings in the turbine.

Meanwhile, the Electric Union (UNE) forecasted for this Monday a day of long blackouts, with a deficit exceeding 1,400 MW, due to the outage of Felton and other units undergoing maintenance or encountering failures.

In June 2024, a failure in the Felton pipes caused outages exceeding 1,200 MW, highlighting the fragility of the electrical system. Days earlier, the Minister of Energy and Mines, Vicente de la O Levy, stated that the outages were "bearable" and that efforts were being made to improve the situation.

It is certainly an annoyance, but the level of blackouts is manageable, stated the head of the department who, in May, was overseeing maintenance work in Felton and discovered that there were “22,000 tubes to clean.”

Applauding the effort of the workers who were “going to the safety”, De la O Levy deemed it a remarkable achievement that they created “practically brand new and completely constructed in Cuba” the regenerative air heater of a thermoelectric plant, which, just eight months later, is disconnecting again for maintenance.