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Cuba faces a new day of widespread blackouts this Friday, with an estimated deficit of over 1,100 megawatts (MW) and the eastern region completely disconnected from the National Electrical System (SEN) following the passage of Hurricane Melissa.
The National Electric Union (UNE) reported that the electricity service was disrupted throughout Thursday and remained interrupted in the early hours of today.
The maximum impact due to a generation capacity deficit reached 1,283 MW at 7:10 PM. Additionally, 640 MW were reported out of service in the provinces from Las Tunas to Guantánamo due to damage caused by the cyclone.
The production from the 21 new photovoltaic solar parks located in the western and central regions was 1,241 MWh, with a maximum output delivered of 212 MW, a figure insufficient to offset the losses in thermal and distributed generation.
At six in the morning, the availability of the SEN was 1,410 MW compared to a demand of 1,828 MW, which resulted in a deficit of 528 MW. By noon, the estimated impact rose to 700 MW.
Among the main incidents in the system are the breakdown at Unit 2 of the Felton Thermal Power Plant (CTE), as well as the scheduled maintenance at Unit 2 of the Santa Cruz CTE and Unit 4 of the Carlos Manuel de Céspedes CTE in Cienfuegos. In total, 595 MW remain offline due to limitations in thermal generation.
The UNE also reported issues due to a lack of fuel and lubricants: 58 distributed generation plants are out of service, which represents 447 MW, and another 155 MW are unavailable due to a lack of lubricants. In total, 602 MW are affected for this reason.
During peak hours, the entry of 50 MW of distributed generation currently halted due to a lack of fuel is expected. With this, the availability would be 1,460 MW against a maximum demand of 2,530 MW, resulting in a deficit of 1,070 MW and an estimated impact of 1,140 MW.
The situation is especially serious in the eastern part of the country, where the UNE confirmed that the provinces from Las Tunas to Guantánamo will remain without electricity for at least 15 days, due to the severe structural damage caused by Hurricane Melissa to the transmission lines.
According to the newspaper Ahora from Holguín, the technicians detected severe damage to the infrastructure connecting the eastern provinces to the national system, which prevents an immediate restoration of service.
The state company indicated that the recovery will depend on weather conditions and the availability of technical resources, which could further extend the expected timeline.
In Havana, the reported a maximum outage of 158 MW at 7:40 p.m. on Thursday, with the service restored by 11:00 p.m. and without interruptions during the early morning.
The country continues to face a deep energy crisis characterized by breakdowns, lack of maintenance, fuel shortages, and deteriorated infrastructure, further exacerbated by the impact of Hurricane Melissa in eastern Cuba.
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