- The Government suspends all teaching and work activities, except for “vital” ones
- The break occurred at 2:08 a.m. on Wednesday.
14ymedio, Havana, 4 December 2024 — Cuba’s National Electricity System (SEN) suffered its third disconnection in less than two months at 2:08 a.m. this morning, plunging the country into total darkness once again. According to a brief note published in Cubadebate, an “automatic trip” at the Antonio Guiteras thermoelectric plant, the country’s main power plant, caused the outage, a case very similar to what happened on October 18.
As a result, work and teaching activities have been suspended throughout the country, according to the announcement by the Minister of Labour and Social Security, Marta Elena Feitó. The decision, adds the official information, “is maintained” as long as the “national electrical and energy situation” lasts. Likewise, “vital services” will be maintained and “no worker’s salary will be affected.”
When dawn broke, Havana had already been submerged for several hours in a total blackout, which began, as the editorial staff of this newspaper was able to confirm, around 5:00 am. After a rather cool dawn – it reached temperatures of around 54 degrees Fahrenheit – there were few lights on in the city, most of them in ministerial buildings. The capital’s neighborhoods were completely dark early in the morning. The western area, with Playa and Marianao, were also in blackout. El Cerro was completely dark, as was El Vedado, Centro Habana and the Boyeros area. Lights were visible in some points of the bay.
The Cuban Electric Union has announced that it is working on the process of restoring the network. According to Beatriz Johnson Urrutia, governor of Santiago de Cuba and one of the first officials to speak, on social media, about the situation, “specialists will work on the construction of micro islands to restore [power] in the shortest possible time.” This technique was the only one that managed to restore the SEN after the failure of October 18, which was followed by a failed attempt to reconnect.
“Fuel for the power generators of the main hospital institutions is guaranteed, assuring their operation, especially in critical areas such as intensive care,” Johnson Urrutia added.
“Fuel for the power generators of the main hospital institutions is guaranteed, assuring their operation”
The Cuban Ministry of Energy and Mines, through its account on X, assured that “the conditions are more favorable than in the last disconnection,” since “the fulfillment of the procedures is not affected by the hurricane.” And it added: “The islands are already working and the system is gradually being restored.” In a second tweet, it reiterated this last information, adding: “Electrical microsystems are prioritized for water pumping. Several units are ready to start up. Today a large percentage of the SEN will be recovered.”
By 10 a.m., Villa Clara had “revived its microelectric system” with a group of diesel engines from Santa Clara Industrial, although only two circuits had electricity. In Guantánamo, only the Children’s and General Hospitals, the center of the main city and the Baracoa Hospital had electricity. A similar situation occurs in Havana, where there are 12 hospitals and 35 circuits with electricity, located in the municipalities of Guanabacoa, Boyeros, Habana del Este, Centro Habana, Cerro and Marianao.
In addition, in the central region, “is fed by the generation of the Hanabanilla hydroelectric plant” to connect with the Cienfuegos refinery and reach Energas in Varadero. The objective here is to recover the Guiteras plant during the evening of this Wednesday. In the east, the Moa engines were started to activate the thermoelectric plants of Felton and Renté, in addition to unit 5 of Nuevitas.
The second disconnection of the SEN occurred during Hurricane Rafael, on November 6, and its aftermath was still present in Artemisa, the province where it had the greatest impact and where there were still around 10 megawatts (MW) affected by faults in the network.
The Antonio Guiteras thermoelectric plant, located in Matanzas, rejoined the SEN on November 25 after going down a week earlier for “unpostponable” repairs.
Since then, it had been operating at full capacity, according to the official Matanzas journalist Jose Miguel Solís, who updated the island’s energy situation every day, highlighting that the production of the plant – the largest in Cuba – was almost at full capacity, with 270 MW generated.
However, the situation of both the Guiteras plant and the SEN is highly precarious, as the Minister of Energy and Mines, Vicente de la O Levy, warned a month ago, acknowledging the evidence on national television.
“And the misery will continue until the poor administration that exists in this country is what is disconnected”
“The system is weak, there is a huge generation deficit,” he acknowledged. This Tuesday, the deficit forecast for peak hours was almost 1,600 MW, an amount that is already within the norm, even in these days of December, which are cooler on the Island.
According to the UNE report, the maximum electricity generation capacity was 1,554 MW, which for a demand of 3,080 MW represents 50.4%.
Despite the increase in oil shipments from partner countries such as Venezuela, Mexico and Russia, the fragility of thermoelectric plants constantly puts the national grid at risk.
“And the misery will continue until the poor administration that exists in this country is put to rest,” one Internet user commented to official journalist Lázaro Manuel Alonso.
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