The largest thermoelectric plant in Cuba, the Antonio Guiteras de Matanzas, has returned to log off of the National Electric System just 24 hours after entering, having overcome its previous fault.
“The Antonio Guiteras Thermoelectric Plant leaves the National Electric System due to a leak in the boiler, a defect that has nothing to do with the repair carried out,” announced the Cuban Electric Union (UNE), which adds that “the cooling process began for later repair”.
Félix Estrada, head of operations of the UNE National Load Dispatch, explained that this Monday it will be possible “to access the interior of the Thermal Unit and determine the area and magnitude of the fault.”
“The plant had to be stopped and the cooling process started due to a puncture in the boiler on the water side, the previous fault occurred on the steam side”
The First Secretary of the Provincial Committee of the Communist Party in Matanzas, Susely Morfa, wanted specify on Twitter that the breakdown was different from the previous one. “The plant had to be stopped and the cooling process started due to a puncture in the boiler on the water side, the previous failure occurred on the steam side,” he said in his peculiar jargon, before launching a harangue to spur the workers who did not encourage anyone. “Misbel’s troops fighting to correct the breakage in the shortest time possible,” he added.
“How great that after less than 24 hours the Guiteras comes out! But the good news is that it was for the water part and not for the steam part. Luckily before the start they were going to check everything or almost everything. Let’s hope that the next stop, after the next synchronization and in less than 24 hours, will be for the pumps and the next for the cooling system and so on forever!” Cubadebate who signs his message with the name Perpetual Justification.
The last failure of the Antonio Guiteras, which contributes 220 MW to the system, occurred on September 12, but previously suffered another on August 30, in that case due to “loss of turbine parameters (vacuum)”, although action was also taken on “a leak in the boiler that had already been detected previously”.
Just a day before, Miguel Díaz-Canel had announced that the blackouts would end in December. During a tour of the Lidio Ramón Pérez thermoelectric plant in Felton, Mayarí, which he gave together with Raúl Castro, the president stated that the deadline depended largely on everything going well with that plant.
“We are in a battle with the blackouts, which seems to never end… because you know that in December this is not going to be fixed. Save the tweet”
“Felton 1 decides today the course of the recovery strategy and its start-up is vital for the fulfillment of the objectives set, in the first order, to minimize or eliminate the blackouts next December,” he promised that day. Last May he had already assured that before June the energy situation would improve, but the only thing that has happened since then has been a giant step deterioration, which has led to the most absolute loss of confidence even among his co-religionists.
“We are in a battle with the blackouts, which seems never to end… because you know that in December this is not going to be fixed. Save the tweet,” one user responded on Twitter to Morfa, while another, who exhibits as profile image an illustration in support of the Family Code added: “Likewise!! Díaz-Canel knows that December is a story.”
a reader of Cubadebate has asked the Government in a comment to the official note of the newspaper to resume the credit that Russia signed with the Island years ago to modernize the electrical system. “Manage the 1,200 million euros of credit from Russia and we are going to build three new units, because it is showing that our units are giving the latest, they are many years of work and very few repairs and maintenance, that is the great truth, I don’t know he had foresight and we are paying the consequences. We know about the blockade of Trump’s 243 measures, the covid and whatever we want to add to it, but there was not adequate attention to this sector, the most important in our country, tourism, it is important but never like the national electro-energy system”, he points out.
The commenter refers to a project announced in 2016 by the official press that was to add around 800 MW to the system. A few weeks ago, the Ministry of Energy responded to that question, which many citizens are wondering about, and maintained that the amount could never be achieved.
“In short, the money from that credit was not used at all, we simply have not been able to resume the project”
The money was intended for the construction of four 200 MW blocks, three in Santa Cruz del Norte and one in Mariel. The 1,200 million euros financed 90% and the Government had to contribute the remaining 10% in advance. According to the ministry, the previous work was carried out between 2016 and 2019, but in 2020, with the closure of borders and the decline of the economy, it became impossible to have the amount of the Cuban part and in 2022, “the conflicts between Russia and Ukraine” – said the response note in reference to the Russian invasion – “they marked a new delay in such an important project”.
“In short, the money from that credit was not used for anything, we simply have not been able to resume the project. And on the other hand, the credits are not a gift, but a loan, therefore, there is no way that Cuba can use the money in something other than this project. Lastly, another detail, those 1.2 billion euros are to finance the work of the Russian companies involved in the project, which is managed and administered by a Russian entity from that country,” added the response.
This Sunday the electricity deficit was 27%, with a maximum shortage of up to 513 megawatts and before the departure of Guiteras, which today will probably aggravate a situation that has Cubans at the limit of patience. “Turn it off pa always, if total every time they start it a week it fucks up again”, sentences a reader.
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