New Failures in Power Plants Cause More Blackouts in Cuba

Carlos Manuel de Céspedes Thermoelectric Plant, in Cienfuegos. (5 de Septiembre)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Havana, 24 May 2022 — Despite the voluntarist declarations of the Cuban leaders, there will be no truce this week for the blackouts on the Island.

As published on Tuesday by the Cuban Electrical Union (UNE) and featured in Cubadebate, there was a failure this Monday afternoon at the Carlos Manuel de Céspedes Thermoelectric Plant in Cienfuegos. Unit 3 of that plant stopped working just hours after two units of the Antonio Maceo plant, in Santiago de Cuba, and Diez de Octubre, in Nuevitas (Camagüey), which had been out of order for a few days, came into operation.

“The electricity generation deficit in Cuba continues to affect the service, despite the synchronization of two other units,” says the publication of the official newspaper.

Last Friday, the UNE explained in a note that, despite the fact that the Lidio Ramón Pérez thermoelectric plant, in Felton, in the Holguin municipality of Mayarí, was back in operation after a breakdown, it was not managing to supply the demand of the country because “six thermal units continue to fail and maintenance is planned at Feltón 2, Mariel 8 and Talla Piedra.”

The UNE has said that the situation is “complex” and President Miguel Díaz-Canel acknowledged that “the country’s energy situation continues to be very difficult” due to “breakages in some plants and the scheduled shutdowns of others for maintenance.”

However, the Cuban president insisted, the fault lies not with the lack of maintenance of the plants, but with the covid-19 pandemic and “the intensified [American] blockade.”

Each blackout has pushed the patience of Cubans to the limit, because they must suspend work due to the constant outages that arrive without notice, despite the broadcast of a schedule by local radio stations. The situation becomes more difficult on hot May nights that require the use of fans or air conditioning equipment to sleep.
____________

COLLABORATE WITH OUR WORK: The 14ymedio team is committed to practicing serious journalism that reflects Cuba’s reality in all its depth. Thank you for joining us on this long journey. We invite you to continue supporting us by becoming a member of 14ymedio now. Together we can continue transforming journalism in Cuba.