The state-owned company Unión Eléctrica de Cuba (UNE) announced this Tuesday that the energy deficit will be around 41% of the maximum generation capacity in the afternoon-night hours of greatest consumption.
The high deficit takes place one day after the country’s main thermoelectric plant, Antonio Guiteras, located in the province of Matanzas, left the national electricity system. According to the UNE, the plant suffered a new “puncture” in one of its boilers. It will be necessary to wait 30 hours, the hours provided for the boiler to cool down, before executing any repair of the fault.
With this scenario, a day with power cuts is expected, a situation that has affected the entire national territory for several months, including Havana.
Blackouts can exceed 10 consecutive hours, which has a negative impact on the economic and social life of Cuba, in the midst of the crisis it is going through. The UNE calculates for today a generation capacity of 2,206 megawatts (MW), a maximum demand of 3,100 MW and a deficit of 894 during peak hours.
The blackouts affect all areas of the economy and notably the daily life of Cubans, which is fueling more and more social discontent
The company, which responds to the Ministry of Energy and Mines, also estimates a maximum affectation during the afternoon-night of 964 MW. Cuts in the electricity supply, due to breakages and failures in the outdated thermoelectric plants, lack of fuel and scheduled maintenance, are increasingly frequent in the country.
In 60 of the 62 days of July and August blackouts were recorded on the Island, according to data from the UNE collated by Efe. The Cuban government has stated its intention to reduce them before the end of the year, through repairs and new investments, but it is not the first time that they have scheduled improvements that do not comply once the date arrives.
The blackouts affect all areas of the economy and notably the daily life of Cubans, which is fueling more and more social discontent. These were one of the main causes of the protests against July 11, the largest in decades, and also of those that have been verified this year throughout the national territory.
Cuba relies heavily on foreign oil to produce energy (thermoelectric plants generate two-thirds of the electricity) and its main supplier, Venezuela, has notably reduced its shipments.
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