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The Cuban Electric Union (UNE) reported this Wednesday that the country remains under a generalized energy crisis, with blackouts throughout Tuesday and a similarly affected Wednesday morning. According to the official report, the maximum impact due to generation deficit reached 1,914 MW at 7:10 p.m. on Tuesday, a figure exceeding what was planned due to the outage of two turbines and the combined cycle of Energás Jaruco.
Despite the official discourse on clean energy, the 32 new photovoltaic solar parks barely contributed 2,875 MWh to the system, with a maximum power of 549 MW at noon, which did not compensate for the decline of the national thermoelectric system.
Cuba woke up with a deficit of over 1,000 MW
At 6:00 a.m. this Wednesday, the availability of the National Electric System (SEN) was 1,774 MW compared to a demand of 2,864 MW, which resulted in 1,085 MW affected by capacity deficit. For daytime hours, the UNE estimates disruptions of about 950 MW, which means stability of the service is not expected throughout the day.
System failures and limitations
The technical report from UNE outlines failures in several key units:
- Unit 2 of the CTE Felton
- Unit 8 of Mariel
- Unit 5 of the CTE Diez de Octubre (Nuevitas)
- Unit 3 of CTE Renté (Santiago de Cuba)
In addition, there are scheduled maintenance activities in the Unit 2 of Santa Cruz del Norte and the Unit 4 of the CTE Céspedes (Cienfuegos), along with thermal limitations equivalent to 374 MW out of service.
Moreover, the lack of fuel and lubricants keeps 50 distributed generation plants out of service, which accounts for 341 MW, along with another 156 MW unavailable due to a shortage of oils. In total, 497 MW of generation are halted for this reason.
The nighttime peak will be critical
For peak hours, the UNE anticipates the addition of only 110 MW (50 MW from distributed generation engines and 60 MW from unit 5 in Nuevitas). With this, availability would increase to 1,884 MW, compared to an estimated maximum demand of 3,380 MW, resulting in a deficit of 1,496 MW and a total impact of up to 1,566 MW.
This means that blackouts will continue throughout the country, with outages that could exceed 18 hours in several provinces, amid rising social discontent due to shortages of electricity, food, and water.
Havana: power outages of up to eight hours in all neighborhoods
The Electric Company of Havana (EELH) reported that this Tuesday the capital experienced outages for more than 13 hours, with a maximum interruption of 223 MW at 7:30 p.m., and that service was restored at 5:30 a.m. today.
Despite this, the company announced scheduled blackouts of up to eight hours across all sectors of the capital for this October 15, although it clarified that compliance will depend on the “demands of the SEN.”
“Although it was planned, it was not necessary to affect blocks 5 and 2 between 10:00 a.m. and 2:30 p.m. The outages will only depend on the behavior of the national electrical system,” states the official note.
This confirms that Havana will also experience prolonged power outages, in a context where the lack of generation and fuel has made the stability of the electrical service unsustainable.
Neither the UNE nor the Electric Company of Havana provided forecasts for immediate improvement, and both reports reflect the structural collapse of the Cuban energy system, reliant on outdated thermoelectric plants and an unprecedented fuel crisis.
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