A fire caused by a short circuit in an electrical transformer has left part of the province of Pinar del Río without electricity and caused the National Electric System (SEN) to exit unit 6 of the Máximo Gómez Báez thermoelectric plant, in Mariel (Artemisa ), “product of the strong oscillation caused”.
After midnight from Sunday to Monday, the Cuban Electric Union (UNE) reported the reason for the blackout, which supposedly affects the highway and the town of La Coloma, in Viñales, part of the Consolación del Sur municipality, the Luis Lazo highway and a sector of the center of the city of the head municipality.
“Firefighters are currently putting out the fire, once it is put out, work will be done to solve the failure and service will be restored to the affected areas. We apologize for the inconvenience caused,” added the official note.
The fire occurred in the Briones Montoto substation and was quickly disclosed by a multitude of accounts related to the Government with an identical text in which, after notifying that, in the next few hours, the information will be expanded, it adds: “Dear friends , share many times for the information of our people, despite the adversities and challenges to come, we will get ahead, we will win! Information obtained at the scene of the event from specialized sources. WHEN WE ARE UNITED AND DISCLOSE THE TRUTH, WE AVOID MANIPULATION, AND WE ARE STRONGER (sic.)”
In recent days, with the sharp rise in temperatures, the electricity deficit had not stopped increasing, reaching an almost record figure of 995 megawatts on Friday
In recent days, with the sharp rise in temperatures, the electricity deficit had not stopped increasing, reaching an almost record figure of 995 megawatts (MW) on Friday at peak time and, although Saturday’s forecast was lowered, more than 500 MW were also missing. This Sunday, on the other hand, a deficit of just 50 MW was projected, but the fire in Pinar del Río complicated the situation, provoking complaints among the neighbors, who distrust of the “faults”.
The forecasts to get the SEN ready for the summer have failed again, as the population already feared when, at the beginning of the year, the Minister of Energy and Mines, Vicente de la O Levy, announced a schedule to organize the maintenance of the main thermoelectric plants in the country during the colder months so that everything would be ready by the end of May. Meanwhile, the authorities would continue negotiating the purchase of fuel for mobile generation.
Although the minister promised that this year the power outages would be limited to one or two hours, soon the deadlines were extended and non-compliances have continued to be systematic. Including the synchronization of the Antonio Guiteras de Matanzas thermoelectric plant, the main one in the country, which spent all of 2022 with continuous breakdowns and for which a major maintenance operation was scheduled to be completed at the end of May.
The plant finally came back online on June 7 and just 72 hours later, when it was completing synchronization, it suffered a new break in the boiler. After another ten days paralyzed, on Saturday night she joined the SEN, but prevention is maximum. “The engineer Rubén Campos Olmos comments from the control room that increasing the load, that is, generating with more power, is a process that is not exempt from risks and common sense indicates proceeding with caution,” said the official press.
________________________
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 becoming a member of our newspaper. Together we can continue transforming journalism in Cuba.
