Two thirds of Santiago de Cuba were still without electricity service this Monday due to the damage caused by the Hurricane Melissa. But if they were already connected, they would probably also remain in the dark due to the high generation deficit due to breakdowns and lack of fuel.
In Santiago, the restoration of electricity was only at 29.23% as a result of “the extensive damage suffered by the distribution lines and the complexity of their rehabilitation,” as explained by the Minister of Energy and Mines, Vicente de la O Levy.
This situation contrasts with that of the rest of the eastern provinces, which—at least according to official statistics—exhibit a better recovery.
In Las Tunas, for example, the service already reaches 99.95% and in Guantánamo it reaches 96.45%, while Holguín was already approaching 80% and Granma exceeded 73%. De la O Levy said at a meeting of the National Defense Council.
However, the owner assured that all residents of the Santiago city must have electricity at the end of this week, while the rest of the municipalities, “due to the energization of the substations, will have, starting this Tuesday, a certain level of service.”
The Guiteras thermoelectric plant is disconnected again to “solve urgent defects”
Generation down
Another thing is the situation of electricity generation, hampered by the poor condition of the generating plants and the fuel deficit. This translates—as has been happening for months—in long blackouts in the rest of the country that was not affected by the hurricane.
Yesterday the maximum impact was 1,542 MW at the night peak and today the forecast of the Electrical Union (UNE) is similar: 1,530 MW. To this figure we would have to add the 250 MW that are still affected in the eastern area to more accurately calculate the magnitude of the blackouts.
Furthermore, availability will not reach 1,500 MW during the day and at night only 20 MW should be recovered at Energás Varadero.
The recent disconnection of the Antonio Guiteras thermoelectric plant due to “undelayable defects” is compounded by problems in other thermal units and also in distributed generation.
In total, there are seven disconnected blocks, including two in Renté and one in Nuevitas, which this Monday suffered a new breakdown in your boiler. Santa Cruz 2 and Cienfuegos 4 are still unable to connect after long months of maintenance.
Meanwhile, there are 81 distributed generation plants stopped due to lack of fuel and 757 MW lost due to this cause and also due to lack of lubricant, a figure that further strains the poor outlook for electricity generation due to the possibility of other breakdowns or difficulties.
