MIAMI,Cuba.-The Cuban Electrical Union notified this morning of the departure of the Thermoelectric Power Plant (CTe) Antonio Guiteraslocated in Matanzas. La Guiteras, the largest unitary block in Cuba, will stop its operations for at least 96 hours for maintenance work on its boiler.
The daily report that the UNE shares on its social networks estimates a generation capacity deficit of 1,594 MW for this Tuesday. The official note highlights that intense outages continue in Artemisa due to breakdowns in electrical networks caused by Hurricane Rafael, although the prolonged blackouts will affect the entire island.
Currently, unit 5 of the Mariel CTE, unit 1 of the Santa Cruz CTE, unit 2 of the Felton CTE and units 3 and 6 of the Renté CTE are in breakdown. Under maintenance is unit 2 of the CTE Santa Cruz, units 3 and 4 of the CTE Cienfuegos and unit 5 of the CTE Renté.
On the other hand, the statement adds that 43 distributed generation plants with 192 MW are out of service due to fuel, the Santiago de Cuba lake (67 MW) and eight engines in the Melones lake (128 MW) for a total affected. for this reason of 387 MW.
With this forecast, an availability of 1,556 MW and a maximum demand of 3,080 MW are estimated for peak hour, for a deficit of 1,524 MW, so if the forecast conditions continue, an impact of 1,594 MW is forecast.
In the case of the CTE Guiteras, founded 36 years ago, it is of vital importance because it is located in the west of the Island, where the largest loads are concentrated, and it consumes national crude oil by pipeline, without the need for transportation expenses, among other advantages. Its intermittency as the main electricity generator exposes the chaotic situation in which the plant finds itself, which could suffer a total collapse if deep maintenance work is not initiated.
