The severe deficit in the generation capacity of the national power system (SEN) has decreased over the past 24 hours. For this Saturday, the Cuban Electric Union (UNE) has forecasted blackouts that will "only" reach 800 MW.
From over 1,500 MW of outages recorded on Thursday and nearly 1,000 MW on the previous day, the state-run company announced this Saturday a situation that official journalist José Miguel Solís described on social media as a "slight improvement," provided no unforeseen issues arise throughout the day.
"For peak hours, an availability of 2,370 MW and a maximum demand of 3,100 MW are estimated, resulting in a deficit of 730 MW. Therefore, if conditions remain as predicted, an 800 MW impact is forecasted for this period," the UNE stated on its social media platforms.
On Friday, similar to the rest of the week, "the service was disrupted for 24 hours due to a generation capacity deficit."
"The maximum impact during peak hours was 991 MW at 8:20 PM, coinciding with the peak time," the company specified.
System Failures and Fuel ShortagesThe ongoing fuel shortages and breakdowns in units at several thermal power plants (CTE) highlight the failure of the Cuban regime's summer strategy, continuing to contribute to the SEN's collapse.
This Saturday, "there are malfunctions in unit 8 of the CTE Mariel, unit 4 of the CTE Carlos Manuel de Céspedes, units 5 and 6 of the CTE Nuevitas, unit 2 of the CTE Felton, and unit 5 of the CTE Renté," two fewer than the eight units reported as faulty on Thursday. It appears that the issues in unit 1 of the CTE Santa Cruz and unit 6 of Renté have been resolved.
On Wednesday, Vicente de la O Levy, Cuba's Minister of Energy and Mines, addressed the critical situation of the SEN, claiming that the fuel which could alleviate the crisis "is in Cuban ports," but has yet to be unloaded.
He also mentioned that, in a "financial sacrifice for the country," the fuel was planned to be offloaded within hours, presenting the payment of "high amounts of money weekly" as a significant achievement. However, he hinted that due to the regime's financial struggles, this situation might recur in the coming days.