Cuba begins another critical week of blackouts: the deficit will approach 2,300 MW this Monday

The people of Cuba are starting this week with a new wave of extreme blackouts. According to the informative note from the Electric Union, this Monday only 1,000 MW is expected to be available against a maximum demand of 3,250 MW, resulting in an impact of 2,280 MW—almost at the threshold of 2,300 MW.

On Sunday, the service was interrupted for a full 24 hours, with no recovery even during the early morning. "The maximum impact due to a generation capacity deficit yesterday was 2,272 MW at 10:50 PM," the state organization noted in its morning report.

Three thermoelectric units remain out of service: Unit 6 of the Máximo Gómez plant in the Mariel Special Zone; Unit 4 of Carlos Manuel de Céspedes; and Unit 2 of Lidio Ramón Pérez in Felton.

Another six units are under maintenance, including Unit 3 of the Ernesto Guevara de la Serna CTE in Santa Cruz del Norte; Units 5 and 6 of the Antonio Maceo CTE in Renté; and Unit 5 of the Diez de Octubre thermoelectric plant in Nuevitas.

This situation is compounded by the paralysis of distributed generation: 106 power plants are out of service due to a lack of fuel, along with the Patana de Regla, the Patana de Melones, the Central Fuel de Mariel, and the Central Fuel de Moa.

The 54 photovoltaic solar parks contributed 4,737 MW/hour on Sunday, with a maximum capacity of 737 MW, but their contribution is limited to daylight hours and does not alleviate the deficit that surges every night between 6:00 PM and 11:00 PM.