The Granma Electrical Company reported this Thursday the withdrawal of the national electroenergy system (SEN) from Unit number 1 of the Lidio Ramón Pérez thermoelectric plant (Felton) due to a breakdown in the boiler.
“We inform our Granma population that Unit No. 1 of the Lidio Ramón Pérez thermoelectric plant has just left the National Electrical System, causing a frequency trip that affected line 5545, which feeds the circuits belonging to the municipality of Bartolomé Masó and the La Curva Substation,” the company indicated on its Telegram channel.
The failure had a considerable impact on the distribution of electrical energy, as recognized by the Cuban Electrical Union (UNE), mainly in the eastern region of the country.
From a forecast of 750 MW of damage made the day before on its social networks, the state company admitted this Thursday that “the maximum damage on the day was 1,221 MW at 8:50 p.m., not coinciding with peak hour.”
The morning of this June 13 begins with 589 MW affected due to a deficit in generation capacity. For midday time it is estimated a maximum impact of 800 MW.
“For the peak hour, an availability of 2,030 MW and a maximum demand of 3,200 MW is estimated, for a deficit of 1,170 MW, so if the expected conditions are maintained an impact of 1,240 MW is forecast“said the UNE in its information note this Thursday.
In addition to the boiler in Unit 1 of Felton, Unit 2 of this thermoelectric plant is also damaged. Both join the list of damaged thermal generation units which, according to the UNE, are “unit 6 of Mariel, unit 2 of Santa Cruz and unit 6 of Rente.”
“Unit 1 of Santa Cruz, unit 5 of Nuevitas and unit 5 of Rente” are also disconnected from the SEN for maintenance.
With this panorama, the Granma Electric Company warned its customers that impacts will occur “outside the rotation schedule planned by the blocks.”
“The circuits will have an impact on the electrical service of six hours, and with electrical service of three hours depending on the behavior and availability of the country’s electrical generation,” the company specified.
According to the content creator’s social media post Emilio Rodríguez Pupoquoted by the official journalist Lazaro Manuel AlonsoFelton operators began the “cooling process for corrections.”
“Notable increase in the deficit due to generation capacity, with emphasis on the east. The work will require no less than 3 days, due to the boiler cooling process. Increase in water consumption is the main sign of a ‘puncture’ in the boiler pipes and that is why the unit started shutting down at around 8:30 p.m. today, a fact corroborated by Eric Milanés Quinzángeneral director of the CTE Lidio Ramón Pérez,” said Rodríguez Pupo.
The recent Felton tube cleaning
The reported “puncture” in one or more Felton pipes puts the focus once again on the quality of the repair and maintenance work carried out by the UNE as part of the government’s strategy to restore generation capacity before the summer months.
Although the strategy of Miguel Diaz-Canel It is not credible among the population, and the ruler himself admitted at the end of May that there are no guarantees that the summer months will pass without effects on the electrical service.
“We are going to have extended maintenance until the month of June to minimize the annoyance of blackouts in the summer, especially in the months of July and August,” said Díaz-Canel.
For his part, when referring to the coming months, the director of the UNE, Alfredo Lopez Valdestried to show optimism by stating that “we are aware that we are experiencing major blackouts, but there is a tendency to improve.”
According to the manager, no maintenance works have been planned for any thermoelectric plant for July, which does not mean that things are going to go well. “We are going to have the breakdowns that normally occur in the system, we are going to have the limitations that normally occur in the system.”
Days before these statements, the Minister of Energy and Mines, Vicente de la O Levy, explained to Cubans the measures adopted in the face of the complex and tense energy situation in the country.
From the Lidio Ramón Pérez de Felton thermoelectric plant (CTE), in Holguín, the minister admitted that the situation “is a nuisance, of course,” but stated that “the levels of blackouts are bearable.”
De la O Levy applauded the efforts of the Felton workers. “They are playing it safe”he stated on site, seeing how the technicians made the thermoelectric plant’s regenerative air heater “practically new and built entirely in Cuba.”
From there I jumped to the condenser and discovered that that section of the CTE had “22,000 pipes that need to be cleaned”. De la O Levy explained how many tubes per hour, per shift, per day and per week the maintenance of the Felton condenser means.
However, just three weeks after Felton started up and after the cleaning of the 22,000 tubes, this Thursday a breakdown related to these elements occurred again.
