Cuba Faces Widespread power Outages Amid generation Deficit
Havana, Cuba - Cuba’s national electrical system is experiencing significant disruptions, with a peak impact of 1,982 MW reported yesterday at 7:00 p.m. and ongoing deficits impacting service across the island. The situation stems from a combination of factors including plant failures, scheduled maintenance, fuel shortages, and limitations in thermal generation capacity.
Despite the recent contribution of 2,722 MWh from 33 new photovoltaic solar parks – delivering a maximum of 516 MW during average schedules – overall system availability remains critically low. As of 6:00 a.m. today, the National Electrical System had an availability of 1,392 MW against a demand of 2,513 MW, resulting in a 1,145 MW deficit. Authorities estimate an average impact of 1,200 MW throughout the day.
Several thermoelectric plants are currently offline due to various issues. Faults have been reported at Unit 8 of the CTE Mariel,Unit 2 of the CTE Santa Cruz,Units 1 and 2 of the CTE Felton,and Unit 5 of the CTE Renté. Additionally, Unit 5 of the Mariel CTE, Unit 2 of the Santa cruz CTE, and Unit 4 of the Carlos Manuel de Céspedes CTE in Cienfuegos are undergoing scheduled maintenance. Limitations in thermal generation account for a further 419 MW of lost capacity.
A significant contributor to the crisis is the lack of fuel affecting 80 distributed generation plants, with 716 MW unavailable due to fuel shortages and an additional 69 MW offline due to a lack of lubricant, totaling 785 MW impacted by fuel-related issues.
Peak demand is forecast to reach 3,400 MW,with the current system availability of 1,392 MW projecting a deficit of 2,008 MW and a potential impact of 2,078 MW during peak hours.
(With facts from the Electrical Union)
