“What is happening in Cuba is (…) as the perfect storm,” said Nuclear Engineer Pelayo Caliente to ‘Cubanet’.
Miami, United States. – The nuclear engineer Pelayo Caliente warned on Thursday, in Interview with Cubanetthat the failure chain in the National Electrical System (SEN) has structural causes and will persist as long as it is not invested on a large scale in repair and maintenance.
“What is happening in Cuba is (…) as the perfect storm,” he said. In his opinion, the lack of fuel “is not the culprit that the collapse system.”
Since October of last year, the island has gone through five energy collapses.
Hever, formed at the Moscow Energy Institute and knowledgeable in the Cuban thermoelectric and nuclear sector, said he visited the plants as a teacher and researcher. From that experience, he listed as the main cause the deterioration accumulated by the absence of preventive and predictive maintenance: “There has been no maintenance planning, they have not spent the money necessary to replace, replace or repair the plants at their right time.”
Although he recalled that, even with care plans per day, faults may occur, he stressed that today key routines such as vibrations diagnosis to anticipate failures are not practiced.
The specialist added that, in addition to generation, the transmission and distribution network presents “many problems.” In addition, he emphasized the exodus of qualified personnel as an aggravating factor: “There has been a huge exodus of human personnel, engineers (…) and qualified workers”, to the point that many technicians have abandoned the sector for better paid works outside the industry, he explained.
Hever clarified the impact of the American embargo on thermoelectric plants, which do not depend on the technology of the North American country, “except the auxiliary teams of some plants, which have elements that are components that are affected by the embargo.”
The engineer recalled that “in Cuba the thermoelectric plants are from the former Soviet Unionof Russia, of the Czech Republic. There is a Japanese and another French thermoelectric plant. “
Also, Height dismissed that the expansion of solar parks resolve the underlying crisis: he explained that they only “help the system.” In addition, he explained that, without storage systems, photovoltaic energy does not cover the night demand and its contribution is intermittent: “You cannot rely on that solar panel systems will solve the energy system of Cuba. The answer is no.”
As a solution route, he said that an injection of between 5 and 8,000 million dollars is required only for thermoelectric rehabilitation. However, even if the financing appeared, the recovery would take: “that will take time,” said the specialist.
In contrast, he criticized official priorities: “I know there is money to The repressionbut there is no money for lighting. ”
The engineer linked the persistence of collapse with a political problem: “Until in Cuba there is no true democracy where resources are really used for the good of the people, I do not think that they (…) will repair these things.”
And it went further in its global assessment: “Cuba is a failed state everywhere”, also referring to the deterioration of roads, aqueducts, garbage and unhealthy and the shortage of specialists to execute major investments.
Regarding what can be expected, Hever said the collapses will continue. Although he ruled out a permanent blackout – “that Cuba is paid forever” – warned that the interruptions will be more frequent. In summary, it does not see the short or medium term exit without direction changes: to the question of whether the definitive solution goes through a democratic transition and a government focused on the needs of the population, he replied: “100% agree.”
