State authorities Cuban Electrical Union (UNE) complained about the theft of oil from transformers in the country’s electrical substationsa growing phenomenon that, according to the National Television Newsfurther complicates the current energy contingency in the country.
“When the oil is removed from the transformer, it can often damage the equipment, because this oil is part of the insulation of the transformer and causes final damage to the equipment,” said engineer Onasis Trujillo, Group Head of Substations, lines and networks. of the UNE.
According to the manager, There are no transformers and many times they have to look for them where they are available in different provinces. This means that the population affected by the lack of equipment is “days and days” without this service.
The engineer explained that The stolen oil is used as fuel in tractors and cars that use diesel. The provinces where these lootings are most recorded are Mayabeque, Matanzas, Granma and Santiago de Cuba.
According to the report, each ton of dielectric oil costs more than $3,200 and In the case of definitive damage to the 2,500 KVA transformers, the value of this equipment is $50,000..
Officials warned about the dangers that these thefts entail for the thieves themselves, due to the high voltage (34,500 V) of the electrical substations where they are carried out. A simple contact with energized parts in the substation can cause fatal consequences, so specialized personnel must work on them.
The report did not offer figures of events of this type that have been reported in Cuba, nor of the total losses due to this cause nor if injuries or deaths have been reported. He mentioned that there is a group of people who have been prosecuted or are being prosecuted for the aforementioned crimes and others are under investigation, but he did not go into details either.
Blackouts on the island have worsened in recent months with few days of relief for overwhelmed Cuban citizens. This Saturday the UNE reported that on Friday the impact on the service due to a deficit in generation capacity remained 24 hours a day and in the early morning the service could not be restored.
SEN availability at 7:00AM was 2,180 MW, demand 2,450 MW with 294 MW affected by generation capacity deficit. The estimate for midday of 800 MW of impact.
This June 15, unit 2 of the Santa Cruz thermoelectric plant (CTE), unit 6 of the CTE Rente and units 1 and 2 of the CTE Felton were still damaged. Unit 1 of the CTE Santa Cruz and unit 5 of the CTE Nuevitas are under maintenance. The limitations on thermal generation are 364 WW.
In addition, the UNE said that 41 distributed generation plants are out of service due to fuel, with 309 MW affected by this concept.
For the peak, the UNE estimated that Distributed Generation engines that are out of fuel would enter with 100 MW, the entry of unit 5 of the CTE Nuevitas with 80 MW (in the start-up process), the entry of unit 6 of the CTE Rente with 60 MW and the entry of unit 1 of the CTE Felton with 240 MW.
With this forecast, an availability of 2,660 MW and a maximum demand of 3,100 MW are estimated for peak hour, for a deficit of 440 MW. According to the official note, If the expected conditions continue, an impact of 510 MW is forecast during peak hours..
