Havana, Jun 29 (EFE).- Nearly 28% of Cuba will experience power outages this Saturday evening due to the increased generation capacity deficit, according to forecasts by state-owned company Unión Eléctrica (UNE).
The recent increase in blackouts is due to the departure of the Antonio Guiteras thermal power plant (CTE) – the main one – from the national electricity system due to a breakdown in the boiler.
The company’s report explains that last day the service was affected due to a deficit in generation capacity all day.
Power outages worsened in May, with disruptions lasting more than 10 hours a day in several provinces across the country.
UNE, attached to the Ministry of Energy and Mines, estimates a maximum electricity generation capacity of 2,310 megawatts (MW) for a demand that would reach 3,100 MW.
The deficit – the difference between supply and demand – will be 790 MW and the impact – what will actually be disconnected – will reach 860 MW in the so-called “peak time”, in the afternoon-night of this Saturday.
The Cuban electrical system is in a precarious situation due to the lack of imported fuel and the breakdowns in the seven CTEs, obsolete due to more than four decades of use and the chronic lack of investment and maintenance.
In the last six years, the Cuban government has rented up to seven floating power plants (of which only five currently remain) to alleviate the lack of generating capacity, a quick but temporary, polluting and expensive solution.
Frequent power outages are damaging the Cuban economy – which is expected to contract by 1-2% in 2023 – and fuelling social discontent in a society already severely affected by an economic crisis for the past four years.
They have also been the trigger for the anti-government protests in recent years, including those on July 11, 2021 – the largest in decades – and those on March 17 in Santiago de Cuba (east) and other locations. EFE
lbp/ie
