Unit 1 of the Felton’s thermoelectric plant, one of the most important plants in the country, entered maintenance this Thursday for a period of ten days, which aggravates the existing energy crisis.
In Declarations cited For the journalist Emilio Rodríguez Pupo, The engineer Eric Milanés Quinzán, director of the unit, said that the works include the cleaning of air heaters in the boiler and the condenser, as well as the review of two turbine chumaceras.
At the beginning of last December, Felton suffered a disconnection as a result of a fault, a fall that only lasted a few hours after verifying that “everything was in norm.”
The State Electric Union (UNE) predicted for the night of a maximum specific power generation of 1,830 megawatts, with an affectation that will reach 1 460, higher than on Wednesday night, when 1 435 megawatts were disconnected.
The island suffers for years a serious energy crisis, which has worsened in recent months with deficit rates that have reached 53 % and three national blackouts. Currently, some regions only have electricity supply for four hours a day.
The Cuban energy crisis is mainly due to the lack of fuel, to the lack of currency of the State to import it and the repeated breakdowns in the obsolete thermoelectric plants, with decades of exploitation and a chronic investment deficit.
Specifically, for this day the UNE recognizes breakdowns in three of the 20 thermoelectric production units (distributed in seven plants) and stops forced by maintenance in four other units.
In addition, there are 48 distributed generation centrals out of service due to lack of fuel (fueloil and diesel), the UNE pointed out.
The frequent blackouts have the Cuban economy, which contracted 1.9 % in 2023 and did not grow last year, according to estimates of the government itself. According to these figures, the national GDP remains below the 2019 levels.
