The misfortunes in the Cuban thermoelectric plants seem to have no end. This Monday a fire occurred in unit 3 of the Ernesto Guevara Power Plant in Santa Cruz del Norte, Mayabeque, with no reported victims or injuries. This block is currently undergoing maintenance, which will further delay its synchronization with the National Electric System.
According to official sources, the “small range” fire was promptly controlled and took place at noon “in a section of the cable tunnels” of the unit. The action of a rescue and salvage command together with the firefighters “prevented the spread of the fire to other areas of the thermoelectric plant.”
“Until now, the damage caused is being assessed,” public Cubadebate.
This fire at the Santa Cruz del Norte power plant joins a list of incidents that have evidenced the decline of the Cuban Electric System, which has been reporting constant and prolonged blackouts for more than two years. So much so, that some popular protests against the regime have been motivated by power cuts that last up to more than 12 hours.
“Until now, the damage caused is being assessed”
On April 7, the chimney of the Antonio Guiteras Thermoelectric Power Plant, in the province of Matanzas, suffered the collapse of part of its structure, leaving four men trapped and only two could be rescued alive. The same day of the accident, Alexis Bernardo Labrada, 47, was found dead, and a day later, Lázaro Frank Montero Pita, 57.
A large fire in unit 2 of the Lidio Ramón Pérez Thermoelectric Power Plant, in Felton, in the Holguin municipality of Mayarí, occurred in the middle of last year without any loss of life being reported. The block had been receiving maintenance for several weeks.
Four months earlier, an explosion at the Máximo Gómez Báez de Mariel thermoelectric plant, in Artemisa, caused a fire in which there were no regrettable victims or injuries. The explosion occurred in the steam turbine of unit 7 of the plant and caused an automatic trip in the system a few minutes later, according to the official press.
At the same plant, another accident in October 2021 left two seriously injured. The state press did not provide details of how that incident occurred, on October 4, 2021, but Alejandro Canosa Insua, head of the operators brigade; and Osmany Cabrera Deybe, operator on duty, were affected with third degree burns in 78% and 44% of the body, respectively.
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