Havana/“If the sen did not fall [sistema eléctrico nacional] It was miracle. Every time the deficit brushes those numbers something happens, ”he says to 14ymedio Alberto, a Villaclareño state worker who corroborated that yesterday’s blackout was not, normal. The electric union today gave a record figure in the shortage of energy from the previous day: 1,901 megawatts (MW) at the peak schedule.
On Wednesday, the state company had announced a very slight improvement of the situation, thanks to the recovery of Unit 1 of the Holguin Thermoelectric plant, Felton, but the lack of fuel took the forecasts ahead.
“In my company we were left without early current. Although they are usually just a few hours of blackout, several hours passed and the light came,” continues Alberto, which resides in Santa Clara, the head city of that province.
He then went to the bank, to take advantage of the day. “But nothing: they were turned off.” Finally, he picked up his wife in his work center, at the opposite end of the city and there, he says, “they were also without light.”
“The blackouts in these neighborhoods almost never coincide in programming”
Until then the extension of the blackout did not seem rare. “I thought the circuits had coincided in the programming of blackouts,” he says. It was not until he reached his home, close to the Military Hospital of Santa Clara, who noticed that the cut was greater.
“In this neighborhood they only remove the current when the thing is really bad, because it is the same circuit of the Military Hospital. To top it off, in the block next to mine, where another circuit begins, the people were sitting on the sidewalks waiting for the light to come. The blackouts in these neighborhoods almost never coincide in the programming,” he says.
This Thursday, the man was finally able to verify his suspicions: “There was more deficit than they had predicted and everything seems to indicate that ‘we go for more.” That slogan, Ironiza, is the only one that truly fulfills the electric union “at the heart.”
In Havana the situation was not very different. “Every Havana center went out and the only places where there were light were the Brothers Ameijeras hospital and a MSME With plant, ”Yudit tells this newspaper, a neighbor from that neighborhood.“ I went out to look for food and everything was dark. The coffees, the wineries, the business, all looked like dark clubs, ”he describes.
If the deficit above 1,000 MW had become normal at the beginning of the year, now the ‘status quo’ is located in the 1,600
Another face of the blackouts, which already hinder basic domestic tasks, is the worsening of the Internet connection, he explains. “I have to be connecting and disconnecting the data so that the phone receives some signal. The Internet is on the floor in Centro Habana and neither in my house, where there was always more or less signal, I can not connect now,” he laments.
If the deficit above 1,000 MW had already become normal at the beginning of the year, after the repeated SEN falls, for this April the new status quo It is located in the 1,600. The eight solar parks that have been installed on the island and whose contribution yesterday declared the UNE, was 1,064 megawatts hour have done little to reduce those numbers. At the moment, the photovoltaic lacks batteries and can not contribute during the peak time, when it is already night.
For this Thursday, the forecast remains high, of 1,730 MW for peak schedule. They are out of service by breakdowns the unit 5 of Mariel (Artemis), the 5 of Nuevitas (Camagüey) and the 2 of Felton (Holguín); In addition to the 2 of Santa Cruz (Mayabeque), the 3 and 4 of Cienfuegos and the 5 of Renté (Santiago de Cuba) for maintenance.
The authorities and the official press have awarded the deficit to “fuel limitations”, which prevents 700 MW of 103 electrogen groups into the system. Another 27 MW are due to the lack of lubricants and 68 MW to the inability to start the Pin Turkish melons – one of the two remaining on the island – due to lack of oil.
