An electrical discharge past noon on Tuesday caused the Antonio Guiteras Thermoelectric Power Plant, in the province of Matanzas, to “abruptly” exit the National Electric System, sources confirmed to 14ymedio and the official press.
The electrical discharge “impacted the lightning rod of the power plant’s output line”, published Cubadebate. A source close to the National Electric System told this newspaper that it is expected that the lightning has not caused significant damage, although there is still no statement from the Government.
plant workers indicated to José Miguel Solís, a journalist for Radio Rebelde, that “the lightning struck the lightning protection equipment, but such was the force that it destroyed the lightning rod.”
The official reporter, with a source in the engineer Misbel Palmero Aguiar, general director of the thermoelectric plant, published on his social networks that the “electrical discharge in the outlet protection system of the Matanzas unit apparently did not cause damage to the immense transformer.”
Palmero Aguiar recalled that this type of incident is not the first time that they occur but “without major consequences”
Palmero Aguiar said that the discharge “destroyed the lightning rod of phase B” although he recalled that this type of incident is not the first time that they occur but “without major consequences.”
“If so, they are getting ready to replace the protection unit, fulfilling logical requirements and turning on the turbine again and generating” electricity in the “next few hours,” added Solís.
This Monday, President Miguel Díaz-Canel acknowledged that “the country’s energy situation continues to be very tense” due to “breakages in some plants and the scheduled departure of others for maintenance.”
However, the fault of these “two extremely hard years”, for the ruler, is not the lack of maintenance of the plants, but the covid-19 pandemic and “the intensified blockade”.
Last Friday, the Electric Union of Cuba (UNE) explained in a note that, despite the fact that the Lidio Ramón Pérez thermoelectric plant, in Felton, in the Holguin municipality of Mayarí, was put back into operation after a breakdown, no it was managing to supply the country’s demand because “six thermal units continue to fail and maintenance is planned at Feltón 2, Mariel 8 and Talla Piedra.”
For the UNE, the situation is “complex” and, like Díaz-Canel, it is responsible for the US embargo on the island, which has prevented “carrying out the required maintenance in a timely manner.”
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