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The Ministry of Energy and Mines of Cuba denied the arrival in Havana this Monday of a floating power plant, popularly known as a Turkish barge, but assured that the 'Belgin Sultan' is operating in the country.
The Turkish media outlet Yeniakit reported that the floating power plant 'Belgin Sultan', operated by the Turkish company Karpowership, has arrived at the port of Havana and will start operations this Monday to alleviate the severe energy crisis facing Cuba.
The presence of the vessel on Cuban shores was confirmed through AIS tracking by analyst Falcon on X.
Furthermore, the event was reported by national media outlets such as Radio Progreso and CMKC Radio Revolución. However, the Cuban government denies that a new trailer exists in Havana.
"Currently, there are 2 barges in Cuba, Belgin Sultán and Erol Bay, with an installed capacity of 124 MW. No other barges have been added in recent hours. Starting with the arrival of Russian fuel, they will begin generating electricity in the second half of this month," states the post by the Ministry of Energy and Mines on X.
The Cuban government did not specify how long the power plant Belgin Sultán has been on the island, nor in which region of the country it is located. Their informative note was brief, and after publishing it, Radio Progreso deleted their post from Facebook, which had already received over 800 interactions and dozens of comments from Cubans.
The expected arrival of a new Turkish floating power plant occurs amid a severe energy crisis in Cuba and comes after it was confirmed that the tanker 'Anatoly Kolodkin', from the Russian state shipping company Sovcomflot, completed the unloading of 730,000 barrels of crude oil at the Matanzas Supertanker Base on April 4.
The 'Belgin Sultan', belonging to the Orca class with an estimated maximum capacity of 235 megawatts, was converted into a floating power plant in 2014 at the Sedef shipyard in Tuzla, Turkey, and has previously operated in the Bay of Havana alongside other units from the same company.
Karpowership, a subsidiary of Karadeniz Holding, has the only global fleet of power-generating ships of this magnitude: more than 45 units with an installed capacity exceeding 8,000 megawatts, operating in over fifty countries.
Their floating power plants can operate on liquefied natural gas, natural gas, and liquid fuels, and they can be quickly integrated into land-based electrical grids, making them an emergency solution for crisis-stricken countries.
The alleged return of the Turkish barge would fall within a strategy of dual external support that the Havana regime has activated in response to the collapse of its energy infrastructure. On one hand, the technology of Karpowership, and on the other, Russian crude.
The Russian Energy Minister Serguéi Tsivilev recently announced that a second oil tanker was already being loaded for shipment to Cuba.
The Cuban energy crisis has structural causes that are primarily due to decades of neglect in thermoelectric plants and a lack of investment in the energy sector to boost other areas such as tourism.
This Monday, amidst the debate over the arrival of the Turkish truck, the regime announced that the Antonio Guiteras thermoelectric plant began the cooling process of its boiler after unexpectedly going offline at 3:00 AM, while the unit was generating 170 megawatts (MW).
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