The Cuban energy crisis will cause widespread blackouts throughout the country this Saturday, cuts that at the time of maximum demand will simultaneously leave 56% of the island without power, one of the highest rates recorded, reported the state-run Unión Eléctrica (UNE).
The UNE estimated that at the time of maximum demand today, the maximum electricity generation capacity will be 1,544 megawatts (MW) for a demand of 3,350 MW.
Currently, seven of the 16 available thermoelectric production units (44%) are out of service due to breakdowns or maintenance. These plants are responsible for approximately 40% of the energy mix.
In addition, 68 distributed generation plants (engines or generating sets) are out of service due to lack of fuel (diesel and fuel oil) and nearly twenty are not operational due to a lack of lubricant. These equipment should supply around another 40% of the energy mix.
In times of hurricane
According to its safety protocol, the Ministry of Energy and Mines determines that once the winds of any meteorological event reach 60 km/h, the controlled disconnection of the distribution circuits will be carried out, to avoid accidents and failures in the electrical networks.
This week there was a “partial” disconnection of the National Electrical System, according to what was reported by the Electrical Union (UNE), which did not specify the territorial scope of this new “outage”, although many Internet users in Havana reported blackouts in a large part of the capital.
Breakdowns and lack of currency
Thermoelectric plants, the backbone of national energy generation, are mostly obsolete, after decades of operation and a chronic deficit in investments and maintenance.
For their part, many electric generation engines are out of service due to the country’s lack of foreign currency to import fuel, lubricant or spare parts.
The government solar program, which has launched 32 photovoltaic parks throughout the country this year and which reports between 500 and 600 MW of contribution, according to official sources, alleviates the electricity deficit during some hours of the day, but not at night, because the system does not have batteries to accumulate energy.
The energy situation, worsening since August 2024, is causing outages of 20 hours or more a day in large areas of the country. In the last twelve months there have been five national blackouts, the last this past September.
EFE/OnCuba
