With Just Three Hours of Electricity This Thursday, Pinar del Rio is the Most Affected Province in Cuba

In recent months, protests have been happening throughout the island, which is suffering from an unprecedented energy crisis. (EFE)

14ymedio bigger14ymedio, Havana, 11 August 2022 — The Antonio Guiteras de Matanzas Thermoelectric Plant stopped working again this Wednesday due to lack of cooling water, hours after having reestablished its operations.

Two days earlier, the most important thermoelectric plant in Cuba had left the National Electricity System also due to the lack of pressure in the pumped water, as a result of the fire at the Matanzas Supertanker Base, located less than 5 kilometers away.

For its part, the Renté Antonio Maceo plant in Santiago de Cuba had a boiler break down and had to stop one of its units.

The result for this Thursday was, once again, more blackouts on the island. From Pinar del Río, Daguito Valdés said that in the province they will have only “three hours of power a day,” with 12 consecutive hours of suspension of electricity service.

This Wednesday, the Electric Union of Cuba (UNE) reported a capacity deficit of 24 hours that day, the greatest of which was 1,101 MW, at 8:20 p.m.

The maximum expected shortage for this Thursday is 1,071 MW.

According to the UNE report, units in the Mariel, Otto Parellada, Nuevitas and Felton power plants are out of service due to breakdowns.

A unit is also under maintenance at the Cienfuegos Thermoelectric Power Plant, with “limitations in thermal generation.”

The power cuts, permanent since mid-July, are exhausting the patience of Cubans, who have taken to the streets at night to protest. The last ones were on Tuesday night, in Santa Cruz del Norte, Mayabeque, and in the suburb of La Esperanza, Cienfuegos.

The day before, about 200 people demonstrated at the popular council of Alcides Pino, in Holguín, shouting “turn on the power, dickhead,” accompanied by banging on pots and pans and blaring of vehicle horns.

Since the first demonstrations against the blackouts, on July 15  in Los Palacios (Pinar del Río), protests have been added throughout the island, which suffers from an unprecedented energy crisis.

On August 5, the same day that the fire began at the Matanzas Supertanker Base, hundreds of people demonstrated in the Martí Park of Cienfuegos demanding an end to the blackouts, which in some areas last up to 14 hours.

Translated by Regina Anavy

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