Cuba is experiencing an electrical generation deficit of over 1,500 MW, not including the blackouts in the East

The Cuban Electric Union (UNE) reported this Tuesday, November 11, that the country is facing a generation deficit exceeding 1,460 megawatts (MW), a figure that does not include the additional impacts of more than 200 MW reported in the eastern region due to the passage of hurricane Melissa.

According to the official note from the state-owned company, the availability of the National Electric System (SEN) at six in the morning was 1,470 MW, compared to a demand of 2,156 MW, resulting in 704 MW of impact. For the noon period, an impact of 900 MW was estimated, while during the nighttime peak demand could reach 2,950 MW, with a deficit of 1,460 MW and a total anticipated impact of 1,530 MW.

The UNE indicated that during the previous day, the service was affected 24 hours a day and remained unstable during the early hours of today. The maximum impact was 1,542 MW at 7:00 p.m. on Monday, while the provinces from Las Tunas to Guantánamo experienced 250 MW affected due to the damage caused by hurricane Melissa.

Among the main technical incidents, the UNE reported breakdowns in units 5 and 6 of the Antonio Maceo CTE, unit 2 of the Felton CTE, and unit 5 of the Nuevitas CTE. Additionally, the Antonio Guiteras CTE, unit 2 of the Santa Cruz CTE, and unit 4 of the Carlos Manuel de Céspedes CTE in Cienfuegos are undergoing scheduled maintenance.

On the other hand, 81 distributed generation plants are out of service due to lack of fuel, which represents 651 MW unavailable, while another 106 MW cannot generate due to lack of lubricants. In total, 757 MW are compromised due to shortages of energy resources.

Despite the crisis, the UNE highlighted that the 26 new solar photovoltaic parks installed from the West to Holguín contributed 2,235 MWh, with a maximum power of 384 MW during midday hours.

In the capital, the Electric Company of Havana announced that the service was interrupted for more than three hours on Monday night, with a peak impact of 276 MW at 6:00 p.m. and partial restoration around 1:21 a.m. on Tuesday. However, they warned that due to the low availability of generation, it was not possible to adhere to the scheduled blocks, extending the outages into this morning.

Blackouts continue to affect the Cuban population amidst a prolonged energy crisis that the regime attributes to "breakdowns and lack of fuel," but which experts and citizens link to years of poor management, lack of investment, and almost total dependency on imported oil.