If the capacity of electricity generation in Cuba It was already quite low in recent days, it is even more so at the beginning of December after a new breakdown at the Renté thermoelectric plant.
The breakage occurred this Sunday afternoon in unit 3 of the Santiago plant, due to a “leak in the boiler feeding station,” as reported by the Electrical Union (UNE).
With this, the availability that was already low—due to other difficulties in thermal blocks and distributed generation plants—decreased even further, while the maximum impact during nighttime hours rose to 1,849 MW.
However, this high figure must be surpassed today, according to official forecasts.
At 6:00 AM, barely 1,300 MW were being generated in the country, an amount already close to the existing deficit at that time. And at noon, even with the contribution from the solar parks, the impact anticipated by the UNE is 1,200 MW.
Almost 2000 MW of impact
After the departure of Renté 3, there are six thermal units disconnected due to breakdowns or maintenance, joined by the Energás Puerto Escondido gas treatment plant.
Furthermore, the limitations in the blocks in operation amounted to 547 MW, while another almost 1000 MW will not be produced this Monday due to lack of lubricants and fuel. Only for this last reason, 96 plants have been shut down.
None of those engines will recover during the day, keeping nighttime peak generation in the red. At that time only 25 MW must be recovered, the result of the completion of Felton 1, which has been working with limitations.
In this way, the availability in that time slot should be only 1,325 MW, while the impact will be close to 2,000 (1,995 MW). And it could be even higher if a breakage occurs or demand exceeds the official forecasts (3,250 MW).
