With all Cuban provinces already linked to the national electrical system (SEN), the Cuban authorities recognized Thursday that it is in “weak conditions” and that the causes of Your most recent fall.
The Cuban Minister of Energy and Mines, Vicente de la O Levy, said that the fragile situation of the SEN contributed to its total disconnection and pointed out as factors of that “weakness” the current state of the thermoelectric plants and, in particular, the fact that at the time of the collapse it was out of maintenance “one of its vertebral columns”: the unity 1 of Felton.
To this is also added the loss of power in the western zone by the exit of most of the Turkish patanas With what the island counted, the last one – and the one with the greatest capacity that the country had (240 MW) – at the beginning of August, recalled the head of the Minen.
These factors, which served as triggers for the fifth total fall of SEN in a little less than a year, are still present after restoration, which not only maintains a high electrical deficit in the country, but also maintains the latent risk of new disconnections.
“It is a latent theme the weakness of our electricity generation,” admitted the Levy in the television program Round tablecited by the agency EFEalthough he said – as in previous appearances – that there is a “comprehensive strategy” in progress “for its strengthening”
The minister said that the total collapses of the SEN, as the one that happened on Wednesday morning, are “the worst” that can happen to an electric company, but pondered the work done by the workers of the sector to bind the country again “as soon as possible.”
The cause of collapse
As for the cause of the fall, the headline pointed out that it could not be said with total certainty what caused the “unforeseen exit” of the Antonio Guiteras thermoelectric plant that gave rise to the general disconnection of the SEN.
The official said that the investigation of what happened “is a process that takes time” and that it works on the same “following the established protocols”, According to review Cubadebate.
O Levy said that although there was already a “preliminary information”, all records of the Matancera plant were still evaluated to arrive “a much more precise verdict.” “About that will be reported,” he said.
Initially it had been informed that the exit of the Guiteras, the main unit block of the island, was due to “a false superheated steam signal caused the automatic scheme of the boiler to disarm”, a problem that could have been solved later.
The Matancera unit, which had synchronized yesterday shortly before 4:00 pm – when it had already been possible to connect the entire country to SEN – suffered a new fault while the transmitted the Round table and had to start a new starting process. After that problem, He connected again Late at night.
The electroenergetic situation of Cuba “is very hard”, admits the UNE
Precarious energy panorama
The new general blackout in Cuba shows the precariousness of the electrical system, which since last year has suffered four other falls, three of them caused by breakdowns – including two of the Guiteras – and another due to the passage of Hurricane Rafael on the island.
Last weekend the breakage of a high voltage cable had already caused the disconnection for several hours of the provinces of the eastern region, in the midst of a visible aggravation of the prolonged energy crisis.
The antiquity and poor condition of the thermoelectric plants, the chronic shortage of fuel and the lack of currency to revive the sector – classized by US sanctions.
Independent calculations, referred to by the agency EFEthey agree to estimate that the Cuban government would need between 8 thousand and 10 billion dollars to refloat the electrical system, an amount that Havana does not have.
Electricity cuts are a huge ballast for the national economy, which contracted 1.1 % in 2024 and adds in the last five years an accumulated drop of 11 %, according to official data.
In addition, the energy crisis stues social discontent and has been one of the triggers of the main protests in the country in recent years, such as July 2021.
EFE / ONCUBA
