The energy collapse that has caused four major blackouts in two thirds of the Island in just nine days is “unprecedented”, acknowledged this Thursday Daniel Pérez García, director of the Electric Company of Ciego de Ávila.
For the official press, which defines blackouts as “unfortunate events”, the crisis began on Monday, February 13, with the first disconnection of the National Electric System (SEN). from Ciego de Ávila to Guantánamo due to a fire in a sugarcane field. On Saturday the 18th, the second blackout of up to six hours occurred in the network that connects Matanzas to Guantanamo, attributed to a “human error”.
The service was interrupted again on Tuesday the 21st and Wednesday the 22nd, with cuts caused, respectively, by a fire and a breakdown whose causes are still unknown.
The blackouts have hit families in the central and eastern provinces the hardest. The “starting point” of the crisis is due to the weakness of the electrical system, assured Carlos Arencibia Fernández, director of the Provincial Office of Charges, at a press conference. Any disturbance triggers an automatic trip by frequency (DAF) as a “protective measure”, he added.
The age of the SEN infrastructure, with thermoelectric plants that have been in operation for more than 40 years, makes it vulnerable to any extreme weather event
The official insisted that the system is not robust enough to support the maintenance load and breakdowns in thermal generation units, in addition to the difficulties they face in obtaining fuel.
The age of the SEN infrastructure, with thermoelectric plants that have been in operation for more than 40 years, makes it vulnerable to any extreme weather event. For Arencibia Fernández, the occurrence of fires during the dry period, which lasts from November to April, under high-voltage networks of 110 to 220 kilovolts (kV) is “normal”. Then come the effects on power transmission due to electrical storms in the summer season.
But in previous years “there were no current consequences because the generation was compensated,” he added.
The fires registered in Ciego de Ávila have put the electrical infrastructure of the province under stress, warned Pérez García, who assures that in recent days the flames have been close to substations such as Morón Norte and Santana, but ruled out damage.
The directors indicated that the priority is to restore the supply of electricity to “vital centers”, such as hospitals, dairy companies and sugar mills.
As if that were not enough, he added, there have been 34 service interruptions so far in 2023 due to the change of 86 poles that have been affected by fires registered until February 19. In the municipality of Baraguá alone, 17 infrastructures were damaged, he assured.
One of the fires also triggered the bioelectric line of the Ciro Redondo plant, whose function is to protect the transmission of the boilers. In this sense, Pérez García considered that it is urgent that it be solved in the next few days to guarantee “better conditions” in the service. For now, the directors indicated that the priority is to restore the supply of electricity to “vital centers”, such as hospitals, dairy companies and sugar mills.
Meanwhile, the Unión Eléctrica (UNE) hopes that the system failures will be solved with the transfer of mobile generation in a Turkish boat to the bay of Santiago de Cuba, as well as the start of operation of unit 1 of the Lidio thermoelectric plant Ramón Pérez, from Felton, in Holguín, after several weeks under maintenance, reported Alfredo López Valdés, general director of UNE, in an interview on National Television.
After 2022 with blackouts of up to 12 hours, the Minister of Energy and Mines, Vicente de la O Levy, warned at the beginning of this year that the cuts would continue between January and April due to the maintenance of the generators, but he promised that They would be localized and not “as traumatic” as those experienced between August and October last.
A month had passed since those statements, when he hardened his forecast in the cuts and said that they would be three hours a day until May.
________________________
Collaborate with our work:
The team of 14ymedio He is committed to doing serious journalism that reflects the reality of deep Cuba. Thank you for accompanying us on this long road. We invite you to continue supporting us, but this time making you a member of our newspaper. Together we can continue transforming journalism in Cuba.
