Cuba woke up again this Saturday with widespread power outages and an official forecast indicating that the peak deficit exceeds 1,800 MW, according to the report from the National Electric System (SEN) released by the Unión Eléctrica.
For the peak demand hour, the entity anticipates a supply of 1,366 MW against a maximum demand of 3,200 MW, resulting in a deficit of 1,834 MW and an estimated impact of 1,864 MW if the predicted conditions remain unchanged.
The report indicates that the previous day the service was affected for 24 hours. The supply was fully restored for a brief period at 3:14 a.m. this Saturday, but it was interrupted again at 4:43 a.m.
The maximum impact on Friday was 1,910 MW at 6:20 PM, exceeding forecasts, as units 5 and 6 of the Renté CTE remained out of service, the document specifies.
At 6:00 a.m., the UNE reported a capacity of 1,330 MW and a demand of 1,870 MW, with 660 MW affected at that moment. For the noon hour, an impact of 1,050 MW was estimated.
Among the relevant incidents of the SEN, the report mentions breakdowns in Unit 5 of the CTE Mariel, Unit 3 of the CTE Carlos Manuel de Céspedes, Unit 2 of the CTE Felton, and Unit 5 of the CTE Antonio Maceo
Additionally, units under maintenance are reported: Unit 2 of the Santa Cruz CTE, Unit 4 of the Carlos Manuel de Céspedes CTE (Cienfuegos).
The UNE estimates that there are limitations of 734 MW in thermal generation, and due to a lack of fuel, more than 1,100 MW are offline.
The regime attributes another significant portion of the impact to issues with fuel and lubricants. The report details that there are 95 affected distributed generation plants, totaling 901 MW; 36 MW from the Melones barge, 39 MW from the Regla barge, and 155 MW unavailable due to a lack of lubricant.
In total, the document estimates 1,131 MW affected by this issue.
The director of the National Cargo Office, Félix Estrada Rodríguez, confirmed that the impact from the peak on Friday was 1,910 MW and noted that equipment such as unit 1 from Felton (operating steadily at 135 MW) and machine 8 from Mariel were brought online.
It was also indicated that unit 6 of Renté came online in the early morning, allowing for a "brief" total restoration of service before interruptions resumed.
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