Almost eight months have passed since Raúl Castro and Miguel Díaz-Canel walked together through the Lidio Ramón Pérez thermoelectric plant, in Felton, in Mayarí (Holguín) declaring that its operation was “vital” for the National Electric System. This Wednesday they appeared together before the National Assembly, where the second renewed his mandate, blessed by the first, almost 24 hours after block 1 of the plant again suffered a breakdown.
The unit left the National Electric System (SEN) due to “problems in a steam leak in the part of the boiler,” according to the official Holguín press. “Now we proceed to cool the affected area for the subsequent evaluation of the comprehensive technical state, as is protocol. The planned works conceive the evaluation of the solution to defects in some burners and eliminate gas leaks,” explained a short note.
The plant, the text stated, “supported its work with a water leak on the right side wall of the boiler, 30 meters high, which did not prevent the delivery of 230 MW to the system.” Those are the ones that have been missing since yesterday, which caused a generation deficit that lasted for 16 hours and 34 minutes, according to the Electric Union of Cuba.
The worst moment was, once again, the peak hours at night, when at 20:30 479 MW were missing. The forecast for this Wednesday is that at the hour of greatest consumption there will be at least 370 MW missing, the lack of which began to be noticed at 9, the time the new National Assembly began to be constituted for the start of the X Legislature.
The forecast for this Wednesday is that at least 370 MW will be missing at the hour of greatest consumption, the lack of which has begun to be noticed at 9
Maintenance continues in a unit of the thermoelectric plant of Santa Cruz del Norte, and another of Antonio Guiteras (Matanzas), unit 4 of Carlos Manuel de Céspedes (Cienfuegos), unit 6 of Diez de Octubre (Nuevitas, Camagüey) and units 4 and 6 of Antonio Maceo (Renté, Santiago de Cuba). In the latter there is another unit, 3, damaged, but the most serious is in Felton, which is following the steps that Antonio Guiteras took before.
On March 1, Felton 1 synchronized with the SEN after going through a 20-day scheduled maintenance since the beginning of February, but barely eight days had passed when it had to leave again due to a new failure. On March 23, the official press published that the plant was disconnected again due to a break in the boiler, and although it did not specify whether it was block 1 or 2, the truth is that both are out of action today.
The omen is bad on this day when Díaz-Canel begins his second legislature in the Presidency of the Republic. In May of last year, when the president confronted public opinion for the first time about electrical problems, it was to promise that they would be solved in a few days. From there, the escalation got worse and worse, leading to protests throughout the Island – the largest since 9/11 – from citizens tired of blackouts of up to 16 hours in the worst of the inclement summer.
In some fateful days for the leader, the support that Raúl Castro gave him on that walk through Felton was seen as an endorsement of his work and, even, an institutional call to support Díaz-Canel. “Felton 1 decides today the course of the recovery strategy and its start-up is vital for the fulfillment of the outlined objectives, in the first order, to minimize or eliminate blackouts next December”, stated the president.
The relief of several weeks arrived that winter month, but the problems of the thermoelectric plant not only have not ended but, with the new year, they have only increased.
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