Cuba: Electrical system restoration, technicians expect “significant progress”
Cuba Presidency X account (@PresidenciaCuba)
October 19, 2024 Hour: 12:04 pm
Cuba’s electrical system has suffered several outages in recent days, the most recent being a disconnection that occurred at 6:15 a.m. this Saturday.
Faced with this situation, the authorities have redoubled their efforts to restore the supply of energy nationwide, prioritizing the creation of microsystems in different areas of the country.
The technical director of the National Electric Union, Lázaro Guerra Hernandez, explained to the CubaVisión TV channel that the Cuban government is working quickly and in a coordinated manner to overcome this energy crisis.
“We are making progress in the restoration of the electrical system in the central eastern area of the country and we hope to achieve significant progress throughout the day”, Guerra Hernandez said, highlighting that critical areas have been prioritized to ensure that vital centers have supplied.
One of the main focuses of the government’s strategy has been the construction of what Guerra Hernandez described as “microsystems,” small, isolated energy networks that allow certain sectors of the country to remain in operation.
These microsystems have been made possible by the distributed generation of fuel and diesel engines installed in several provinces.
«We have microsystems in practically all the provinces of the country, except in the province of Isla de la Juventud», explained Guerra Hernandez, who stressed the importance of these systems to keep essential services active.
In addition, the engineer pointed out that more than 650 megawatts (MW) have been installed throughout the country, although a recent breakdown in the microsystem in the western zone caused a new disconnection.
«We have microsystems in practically all the provinces of the country, except in the province of Isla de la Juventud», explained Guerra Hernandez, who stressed the importance of these systems to keep essential services active.
In addition, the engineer pointed out that more than 650 megawatts (MW) have been installed throughout the country, although a recent breakdown in the microsystem in the western zone caused a new disconnection.
However, Guerra Hernandez expressed confidence that the restoration will be faster now that the technical teams have a clear path to rebuild the system: «We already have a well-defined path, we had built it before this last failure, so the restoration process in the western zone should be faster».
The energy restoration process has advanced particularly in the thermoelectric plants of Mariel and Santa Cruz del Norte.
Guerra explained that unit number one of the Santa Cruz del Norte thermoelectric plant and unit number six of the Mariel plant have already been put into operation, which represents a significant advance in stabilizing the supply in the western region.
«In the next few minutes we will begin the start-up of the Guiteras thermoelectric plant in the central eastern zone», said Guerra Hernandez, while in the western region it is expected that the combined cycle of the Boca de Jaruco plant will be reactivated soon, key to the energy supply in that part of the country.
Despite these advances, Guerra Hernandez warned that a complete restoration of the electrical system cannot be guaranteed by the end of the day, but stressed that they estimate «that there will be significant progress in electricity coverage throughout the country».
MFD-teleSUR
Fuente: teleSUR-Cubavision-Cubadebate
