Spanish
Havana.- Cuba will have blackouts throughout the day this Friday that will affect 44% of the country during the hours of peak energy consumption in the afternoon-evening, according to the forecasts of the state-owned company Unión Eléctrica (UNE).
Breakdowns in thermal power plants with accumulated years of operation, the lack of fuel and foreign currency to import it are the main causes of the serious energy crisis facing the Caribbean island, according to the Government.
Power outages reach 20 hours a day in large regions of the country, and in Havana they are between four or five hours. In the last seven months, four national blackouts have been recorded, from which the country has taken days to recover.
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The Cuban government acknowledged the previous day that the average power outages in May were 18 hours a day.
The UNE, belonging to the Ministry of Energy and Mines, forecasts for the peak hours in the evening a maximum electrical generation capacity of 2,030 megawatts (MW) for a demand of 3,500 MW.This represents a deficit (the difference between supply and demand) of 1,470 MW and an impact (what is actually disconnected to avoid disorderly blackouts) of 1,540 MW. It is common for the actual values to exceed the official forecast.
Currently, seven of the 20 thermoelectric production units (distributed across seven power plants) are out of service due to breakdowns or maintenance. In addition, 47 distributed generation plants (engines) are out of service due to lack of fuel (diesel and fuel oil) or oil.
