The Cuban Electric Union (UNE) has announced ongoing power outages for Tuesday, stemming from a generation capacity deficit exceeding 1,500 MW. On Monday, the experts' forecasts fell short. An impact of 1,385 MW was expected during peak hours, but the actual figure reached 1,516 MW at 6:10 p.m.
Service was disrupted starting at 5:22 a.m., and it wasn't restored until 1:28 a.m. on Tuesday. Less than four hours later, outages began again at 5:05 a.m. According to the UNE report, by 7:00 a.m., the availability of the National Electric System (SEN) was at 1,640 MW, while demand reached 2,100 MW, resulting in 530 MW being affected. By midday, the impact is expected to increase to 850 MW.
In Artemisa, 3 MW remain affected due to electrical grid damage caused by Hurricane Rafael. Currently, four units of the thermoelectric plants in Mariel, Santa Cruz, Felton, and Renté are malfunctioning. Additionally, five units at the Santa Cruz, Cienfuegos, Nuevitas, and Renté plants are undergoing maintenance.
Due to a lack of fuel, 53 distributed generation plants and the Santiago de Cuba barge are offline, contributing to a total of 461 MW affected by this issue. Constraints in thermal generation amount to 257 MW.
Understanding Cuba's Power Outage Crisis
What is causing the power outages in Cuba?
The power outages in Cuba are primarily due to a generation capacity deficit exceeding 1,500 MW, combined with damaged infrastructure caused by Hurricane Rafael and a shortage of fuel affecting distributed generation plants.
How are the thermoelectric plants in Cuba affected?
Several thermoelectric plants, including those in Mariel, Santa Cruz, Felton, and Renté, are experiencing malfunctions. Others are undergoing maintenance, which further reduces the available power generation capacity.
What measures are being taken to address the outages?
Efforts to address the outages involve repairing damaged infrastructure and managing maintenance schedules for thermoelectric plants. However, the shortage of fuel continues to hinder the restoration of full power capacity.