MADRID, Spain.- This Tuesday, September 10, 26% of Cuban territory will suffer blackouts due to breakdowns in several thermoelectric plants and fuel shortages in other generation systems, according to reported the state-owned Unión Eléctrica (UNE). The company, attached to the Ministry of Energy and Mines, explained that the interruption of the electric service is mainly due to the fact that 46 distributed generation plants (electric motors) are out of service due to lack of fuel, both diesel and fuel oil, and the breakdown of three units in the thermoelectric plants.
“46 distributed generation plants are out of service due to fuel, for a total of 287 MW affected by this concept,” UNE detailed in its daily report.
For Tuesday, the company estimates that the maximum power generation capacity will reach 2,453 MW, while demand will exceed 3,240 MW. This will generate a deficit of 787 MW, and during peak hours (afternoon-night) the impact will reach 857 MW.
On Monday, power outages lasted 24 hours, also affecting the early hours of Tuesday. According to UNE, the greatest disruption during peak hours on Monday was 749 MW at 8:30 p.m., although this did not coincide exactly with the time of maximum demand.
The Cuban electrical system is in a critical situation due to the constant breakdowns in its seven obsolete thermal power plantswhich have been in use for more than four decades and have not received the necessary investments or maintenance. Faced with this situation, the Cuban government has opted in recent years to rent floating power plants to “mitigate” the lack of generation capacity.
Frequent power outages not only severely affect the Cuban economy, which experienced a contraction of 1.9% in 2023, but have also been a trigger for social discontent. Supply interruptions have led to protests on several occasions, the most significant being those of the July 11, 2021 (11J), the largest in decades, and those of March 17, 2023 in Santiago de Cuba and other locations.
