The critical situation of electricity generation in Cuba is one of the issues that most worries and bothers Cubans, and President Miguel Díaz-Canel returned to the topic this Thursday in the sixth program From the presidencywhich is transmitted in streaming.
“Zero blackout in current conditions is very difficult,” acknowledged the president, two months after having addressed the electrical situation in a previous program, following the popular protests in Santiago de Cuba and other Cuban towns.
“We are going to work so that (the blackouts) are not prolonged, of long duration, as we have been able to achieve at other times,” Díaz-Canel now stated, who pointed out that the authorities seek to reach July and August in better conditions.
In his speech, the president trusted that with the work of the Electrical Union (UNE), plus the savings contribution of Cubans, “this situation will be overcome and we will have a better electrical situation in the coming days and above all “everything in the summer.”
Díaz-Canel assured that in Cuba “there are no blackouts caused to bother anyone,” while admitting that the electricity cuts, which have reached “more than 20 hours in a row” in some locations, are “one of the issues that has more impact on the lives” of Cubans.
Old thermoelectric plants without capital maintenance
Cuba has eight thermoelectric plants that make up 20 blocks in operation but only 16 are theoretically available. However, one of them, Felton 2, is in “permanent breakdown,” while of the other 15, all but one are out of the maintenance cycle, according to Alfredo López Valdés, general director of the UNE.
In addition, of the blocks in operation, 14 have been in operation for more than 30 years and seven of them have accumulated more than 40 years of operation.
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Since 2018, no thermoelectric plant has received capital maintenance, López Valdés said, as have the generating or distributed generation groups, which are powered by fuel, whether diesel or fuel oil.
The immediate consequence of such a situation of disinvestment is that “we have great difficulty in serving the load,” the official admitted, although he clarified that this year it has been possible to provide “a little more maintenance.”
“The system needs 300 million dollars annually, and we have not been able to have that amount. But not only in thermoelectric plants, but also in the networks. This is a system,” warned the UNE director.
Very hot, high demand
For this summer, the UNE foresees a greater increase in demand than planned (3.5%), but less than the 20% overconsumption, as occurred during last Mother’s Day.
The only way to face an increase in demand, especially due to high seasonal temperatures and the increase in air conditioning devices and other electrical equipment in homes, is to further enhance the saving capacities of both the public and domestic sectors, they said. the directors of the Electrical Union.
“We have a limit of energy to generate” and the alternative is “to save,” said López Valdés.
In his opinion, “the state sector in that sense is key. “Air conditioners can no longer be used in the administrative part, on weekends the country’s administrative systems are being disconnected,” he said about a measure that he considered “strong.”
The official put the spotlight on consumption in Havana and asked that it be “rational.”
“It is not doing it at all costs, but efficiently, not wasting, spending the minimum necessary, and for the State to be an example in that sense and then ask the population to use their equipment rationally,” he explained.
Planning and disparity
The disparity in the duration of the blackouts, which in some provinces has been 9 consecutive hours and in others 20 hours or more, prompted the president to investigate this matter, which has triggered street protests in several cities on the island, especially in the east.
“The planning of the damages is a very controversial issue,” responded engineer Lázaro Guerra Hernández, technical director of the UNE.
The expert, who explains every day on television news about the generation deficit – due to breakdowns, maintenance or lack of fuel – said that the Cuban electrical energy system must operate in a safe and balanced manner in its loads.
“If this balance is not achieved, the system can totally collapse and the problem would be much more serious,” he warned.
Guerra Hernández, who has reported deficits of up to 1,400 megawatts of generation, a third of the installed capacity in the country, explained that each province has defined its circuits that can be turned off and what power they have daily, making it very difficult to distribute equitably. blackout hours by territory.
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Failures in logistics
Another of the difficulties that is fueling blackouts, especially at dawn, are failures in fuel logistics. This, it was said in the program, must be distributed by tanker trucks that cannot supply the entire country, whose elongated geography is another factor that causes delays, in addition to the availability of inventories.
Such a scenario is explained by the work recharge of the generating sets, designed to assist the system in eventualities, not to provide uninterrupted service for many hours.
The fuel storage systems that guarantee their operation do not have the capacity for an excessive work regime, so servicing them becomes an additional problem, the specialists pointed out.
The head of the UNE announced as a first that for the summer they will try to “convert some fuel oil tanks for diesel tanks, in order to increase the diesel inventory of fuel engines” which would improve performance at the stations. electrogenic.
It is estimated that at least 1,600 tons of diesel are needed daily for distributed generation that is synchronized to the national system.
July and August, at the doors
In the strategy to confront the summer heatwave, those responsible for the electricity sector plan the gradual entry of duly repaired generation blocks.
“We are aware and sensitive that the blackout that is occurring is very large, but there has been a tendency to improve,” said López Valdés, who argued that two blocks of the Mariel thermoelectric plant and one of the Nuevitas thermoelectric plant are already fully operational. starting this weekend.
In the immediate perspective, a machine from the Ernesto Guevara thermoelectric plant, in Santa Cruz del Norte, with 80 megawatts, would come into action at the end of May.
Likewise, a plant from the Energás project located in the Varadero resort is scheduled to be incorporated into the system on May 29, which will provide 90 megawatts.
In June, the Lidio Ramón Pérez thermoelectric plant, from Felton, in Holguín, should reappear, which will allow Antonio Guiteras, the one with the highest capacity on the island, to be taken out for four days of maintenance. In addition, other repairs are planned in units at the Carlos Manuel de Céspedes, in Cienfuegos, and at the Energás plant, for about twenty days.
“We are working to have all the thermoelectric plants in operation in July… We are only going to have the breakdowns and limitations that normally occur in the system,” predicted the head of the UNE.
“We are not sitting idly by, but we cannot commit that there will be no blackouts. We cannot commit to that,” the manager insisted and announced that a capacity of 100 megawatts with generation engines is currently being built in the Havana port, a novelty in Cuba.
On the other hand, he reiterated that the policy is not to stop the manufacture of goods — “it is crazy to affect production,” he said — but rather to deploy the greatest room for maneuver during daylight hours to reduce consumption. “With this we can have a reasonable summer,” validated the executive.
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Photovoltaic generation
Cuba is rapidly building two large solar energy projects.
The first of them has one thousand megawatts distributed in 46 solar parks, of more than 21 megawatts each. It will be carried out between this and next year and involves almost all Cuban provinces.
“The conditions are in place for the equipment that arrives in Cuba immediately to be installed. There is an enormous will for it to be done that way,” said López Valdés.
This program includes the installation of 100 megawatts of battery accumulation for the stability of the electrical system in its confrontation with the frequency variations “that we now have” and that are very dangerous for the balance of the system loads.
The photovoltaic energy plan contemplates the installation of another thousand megawatts over the next seven years, which will make it possible to accommodate maintenance on thermoelectric plants without the current stress of demand.
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Washington behind the blackout
The sixth edition of the program From the presidency It took place on a day when blackouts would affect 30% of Cuba during peak demand due to lack of fuel, breakdowns and maintenance, UNE itself estimated in its daily report.
In recent days, maximum deficits of up to 38% have been recorded and in some locations there have been blackouts of up to 20 hours a day, a situation for which, according to the president, United States sanctions are directly responsible.
“Those who talk about the blockade and its intensification being just issues that we use politically to justify the country’s problems, it must be said that recently a spokesperson for the State Department recognized that Cuba “was experiencing an incredibly complete embargo,” Díaz said. Canel, quoting direct words from spokesperson Vedant Patel.
