Havana /Madrid /At 7:10 p.m. on Thursday, the Antonio Guiteras Central, in Matanzas, He left again of the national electrical system (SEN) by technical decision before “Synchronize again at 10:22 p.m., at this minute generating 210 MW”, without knowing how long it will endure. The thermoelectric plant had been during the day uploading after reconnecting After the total blackout that occurred on Wednesdaybut at that time the measure was taken for “the protection of low vacuum in the condenser,” said the Electric Union (UNE). But The population is tired: “We need solutions not technical explanations,” replied a client.
The Cubans More than 24 hours have passed with the SEN disconnectedbut there has come a time when, to some extent, they don’t care. The accounts of the state electricity notify them of some inputs and exits of the thermoelectric plants of which they already make fun of memes, because the difference between having the system connected or is not not very noticeable. Especially outside Havana, where some report up to 42 hours without light. “Thanks to the god Fidel, the revolution and the match for the great effort they make so that the Sen stabilizes and returns to the normality of 30 hours of blackout,” a user was ironic this Thursday.
The solutions do not arrive, but explanations are not missing. This Thursday They went to the round table The Minister of Energy and Mines, Vicente de la O Levy, and the Director of Electricity of the Ministry of Energy and Mines, Lázaro Guerra Hernández, to tell those who wanted or could turn on television the technical details of a situation with which they have lived for too long. “The SEN is in weak conditions,” said the minister to anyone’s surprise. “It is a latent theme the weakness of our electricity generation and there is a process in progress for its strengthening,” he said once again, without the advances being perceived.
“It is a latent topic the weakness of our electricity generation and there is a process in progress for its strengthening”
At that time, the cause for which Guiteras left Sen last Wednesday was still unknown, causing its total fall, although O Levy said it will be informed at the time the investigation throws results. Among the problems that afflicted the network at that time, there were two fundamental ones, he said: the loss of power in the western zone due Sen.
Lázaro Hernández once again described the operations carried out to reverse the total blackout, starting to activate the “designed in the country thanks to the energy revolution”, that is, the distributed generation. With it the power to the essential services (hospitals and water pumping) is quickly returned and then the energy is concentrated to start the thermoelectric plants. According to the manager, the great work of the technicians and the discipline allowed to have “the electrical system linked at 10:36 in the morning and, by 1:00 in the afternoon, there was already energy throughout the country.” In practice, just a few clients had light stable, although this was not pointed out by the official.
There were the consequent loas to the workers “mostly young but with experience”, although the greatest ovation was taken “the engineer Félix and his companions of the national loading office, who were in charge of the operations throughout the event.”
In the midst of the comings and goings of La Guiteras, the general director of the UNE, Alfredo López Valdés, also present in the program, raised his category above that of Felton, and called the Matancera Central as “cornerstone of our electrical system”. Therefore, the capital maintenance that it will receive at the end of the year is erected as a threat to Cubans. He will, said the expert, for six months and hoping that it will serve something.
“We are going to change your reheater completely,” he explained. This is, currently, the big problem of the thermoelectric, which turned last March 37. “It has 15 km of pipes”, where vapor circulates inside the tube and on the outside the gases. “You have to build those serpentines and then take them and mount them. And it is perhaps the critical route, the boiler and specifically this element,” said López Valdés. The burners, regenerative heater, economizer pumps and air and gase ducts will also be changed, and a chemical to the boiler will be carried out to protect its future operation once the work is completed. ”
The manager listed a ristra of tasks to be performed, to finally admit that “a large job is going to be done, a job that will improve the functioning of the boiler, but it cannot be said that it will be a new boiler.” He also cited changes in the turbine, the chumaceras, bombs and engines, high pressure heater and endless technical data, but the population summarized in another way: “We pray why the Guiteras behaves well and there is no other problem of the multiple presented.”
“Pray that the Guiteras behaves well and does not present any other problem of the multiple presented”
The program concluded with an exhaustive review of the famous energy transition that the Government has been announcing for months, a process that is assumed as reasonably slow. Part of this is the recovery of 1,100 megawatts (MW) of distributed generation, of which 900 have been used on this occasion to build the microsystems. Also the extraction capacity of national oil wells – the one used in most thermoelectric plants – and gas, which has improved, they affirm, with the latest investments, although the previous production level has not been recovered after registering a 37% drop between 2003 and 2023 for crude and 22% for the gas between 2015 and 2024.
The other fundamental leg is the photovoltaic, to which the directors of the criticisms of those who consider it inefficient and insufficient. “There are already 30 parks inaugurated, that gives more than 600 MW from February to date. It is true that it works only for the day, but if we did not have those 600 MW, the situation would be worse.” In the coming months, with the installation of batteries in some solar parks, it is expected to guarantee the stability of energy, first, and the accumulation later.
Although O Levy recalled that the installation of plates is rapid, thermoelectric plants, which are the base of the SEN, are still in constant intensive care and the change of energy matrix, essential on the island, is not done overnight. But Cubans are in an emergency situation and the night is being made eternal.
