The Antonio Guiteras power plant is reconnected to the national electricity grid after a week-long shutdown for repairs.
14ymedio, Havana, Juan Diego Rodríguez, June 12, 2206 / This Friday, two days later than announced, the Antonio Guiteras power plant in Matanzas was finally connected to the national power grid. “In line with the National Electric System and increasing load,” the Cuban Electric Union (UNE) said in a brief but eagerly awaited statement, after a week of repair work.
User comments show just how accustomed Cubans are to the ups and downs of the thermoelectric plants. “Let’s see how long it lasts,” one said. “They’re playing the seesaw game, going in and out, what’s the name of the construction project?” said another. A third, with the same resigned humor, wrote: “We’ll see, because the little girl loves to party on the weekends.” The Guiteras plant went out last Friday due to a leak in the boiler.
The reconnection of the country’s most important power plant comes as Guantánamo province has been disconnected from the national electricity grid (SEN) for a day, with little to no news beyond the local area and a corner of social media. A brief post from Radio Guantánamo indicated that the eastern territory had gone offline “due to a fault in the 110 kV [kilovolt] transmission line that connects the province with Santiago de Cuba,” and assured that “work is underway to locate the fault and resolve it.”
“In my house we haven’t been able to cook anything because my wife and I are chronic asthmatics and charcoal makes us very sick.”
The report also stated that only the municipalities of Baracoa and Maisí had electricity service, supplied through Moa, in Holguín.
“In my house, we haven’t been able to cook anything because my wife and I have chronic asthma, and charcoal makes us very ill. We depend on the electric stove to cook, so since yesterday we haven’t even been able to make coffee,” a man from Guantánamo explained sadly to 14ymedio. He added that neither he nor his wife had been able to go to work.
“My wife works in a polyclinic lab, but when there’s no electricity, they can’t pump water to the tanks, and practically all the clinics and services have to close,” he explains. “I work at a small business that makes aluminum windows and doors. Most of the machines we use run on electricity, so the workshop doesn’t open when there’s a power outage.”
None of this is mentioned in the UNE’s daily report, which had already predicted early this morning that the Guiteras plant would be incorporated into the National Electric System (SEN) during peak hours. A total of eight thermal units are out of service: units 5 and 6 of the Máximo Gómez plant in Mariel (Artemisa); units 2 and 3 of the Ernesto Guevara de la Serna thermal power plant in Santa Cruz del Norte (Mayabeque); unit 2 of the Lidio Ramón Pérez plant in Felton (Holguín); unit 5 of the Nuevitas plant (Cienfuegos); and units 5 and 6 of the Renté plant in Santiago de Cuba.
The projected deficit for Friday evening is slightly better than in previous days. With a demand of 3,000 megawatts (MW), a shortfall of 1,690 MW is expected, affecting 1,720 MW, or 57.3% of the required capacity.
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