One of the eight Turkish floating plants, the erin sultan, moored until Tuesday to the Tallapiedra thermoelectric plant in Havana, left the port with an unknown destination and sown doubts and uncertainty due to the worsening of the energy situation. According to the authorities, the Karadeniz Powership patana is heading to the port of Santiago de Cuba to replace the irem sultanwho arrived in the east on March 17 and is leaving the Island after having “fulfilled his contract.”
erin sultanwhich contributes 240 MW to the National Energy System, was seen leaving the Havana port this Tuesday, but the ship is not registered on the ship locator pages and it is unknown if, as indicated at the annual meeting of the Ministry of Energy and Mines , “sails towards Santiago de Cuba”.
The irem sultan It does appear in search engines and you can find out that left the capital’s bay on March 11 to arrive, six days later, in Santiago. It was located there until April 3, when it gave its last location and since then the track has been lost.
The Irem Sultan does appear in the search engines and it can be verified that it left the capital’s bay on March 11 to arrive, six days later, in Santiago
This plant arrived in Santiago de Cuba as part of a promise from the Minister of Energy and Mines, Vicente de la O Levy, after a succession of four big blackouts produced between February 13 and 22 that left half the island in the dark for hours. The discontent among the population was evident, since all the Turkish patanas were located in Havana, according to the authorities because there was more industry and population, but they finally agreed to move one of them.
Now, if the official version is confirmed, Cuba is left without one of the floating plants and it is not known how its absence will be alleviated, much less the reasons, although suspicions of non-payment or lack of money to maintain all mobile energy leased to the Turkish company are unavoidable.
Since the first agreement between Karpowership and the Island was announced in 2019, neither party has revealed the contractual characteristics or the amount, which is presumed to be very high. From the O Levy yeah said in february that the payment was monthly and could be made for 17 years. The minister explained that at that time, with eight plants connected to the system, there were 633 MW installed using this technology. “We are of the opinion that, in the midst of the crisis we are experiencing, it was the best business that was done,” he said.
In 2011, the Karkey company (belonging, as Karpowership, to Karadeniz Holding) signed a contract with Pakistan to bring a ship to the port of Karachi that was to provide 231 MW. The country made an advance payment of nine million dollars only as charges for electric power and ended up in court due to non-compliance with the agreed amount of generation.
Cuba’s repeated history of non-payment hovers over speculation that the Turks have decided to start a withdrawal that could stay there or be just the beginning. Although the option that the Government does not have enough money to maintain all the platforms it had contracted is also plausible.
The loss of the 114 MW that Irem Sultan added is not trivial in the current situation. The blackouts of hours begin to become chronic with the fatal conjunction of the lack of fuel and the rise in temperatures
The loss of the 114 MW that the irem sultan It is not trivial in the current situation. The blackouts of hours are beginning to become chronic on the Island with the fatal conjunction of the lack of fuel, which affects distributed generation, and the rise in temperatures. In addition, the recent accident this Friday at the largest thermoelectric plant in Cuba, Antonio Guiteras (Matanzas), raises fears that the maintenance program deadlines for which it must be reincorporated into the National Electric System (SEN) will not be met despite that the technicians they have not stopped working Not last Sunday.
Precisely this Tuesday, Misbel Palmero, director of the plant, explained that the extraction of soot in the chimney and the cleaning of the area continue, previous work to solve the damage to the structure, which includes the lifting of the walls that were demolished to locate the body of Lázaro Montero Pita, who died together with Alexis Bernardo Labrada Junco in the accident. “We have the material and human resources to carry out the task, which should not exceed the time allocated for block maintenance, scheduled until the end of May,” said the engineer.
This Tuesday, the Unión Eléctrica (UNE) had forecast a deficit of 17% nationwide during the evening. The forecasts were based on a power generation capacity of 2,270 MW and a maximum demand of 2,650 MW, a deficit of 380 MW for which 450 MW were planned to be disconnected.
In addition, the lack of fuel continues to be evident and affects both electricity generation and travel. Despite the shipment of a large shipment of oil Venezuelan –1.53 million barrels of fuel oil and heavy oil– and diesel Russian – Cuban television admitted on Monday that the lack of electricity availability by generators was due to “problems in the distribution of fuel” and the queues at gas stations have once again become part of the island’s usual landscape.
“We have the material and human resources to carry out the task, which should not exceed the time allocated for block maintenance, scheduled until the end of next May”
Meanwhile, in the meeting of the authorities of the sector, held yesterday, De la O Levy called for “ensuring the base generation of the thermoelectric plants, as well as betting more and more strongly on the implementation of renewable energies”, and the Prime Minister, Manuel Marrero, thanked the workers their effort to keep up the current.
“Even with the difficult financial situation, we must sustain the maintenance and the plans drawn up. This ministry has demonstrated the quality of its personnel. It is fair to recognize its workers, who, facing the lack of financial and fuel resources, have spared no effort to that there is no lack of electricity. We know that the SEN requires investments to achieve greater stability,” he added.
Vicente de la O Levy affirmed in January that there could be blackouts on the Island until May, although he calculated them to be brief and far below what they really have been. Meanwhile, the population sees how that month is approaching and the situation is already the same or worse than a year ago.
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