Cuba will impose a three-hour daily electricity rationing to ease the island’s energy crisis

There Cuban dictatorship announced on Thursday that it planned blackouts of about three hours a day until next May due to supposed scheduled maintenance at thermoelectric power plants (ETC) of the island.

The Minister of Energy and Mines, Vincent de la O Lévygave as an excuse “an improvement in service for next summer and reduce interruptions due to breakdowns which last year caused long blackouts”

“Then we will continue to work throughout the year to continue incorporating power and increasing the reserve so that we can reach the months of June, July and August in better conditions than the previous year.“, underlined the minister although he warned that “days of assignments can occur”.

He recalled that in 2022 major accidents occurred such as fires at Felton power stationslocated in the province of Holguin (is), and that of Mariel (west), as well as the great fire of Matanzas Fuel Depot Base which has aggravated the complex crisis of the National power supply system (SEN).

De la O Levy pointed out that the island closed last year – and started this year – with no “planned” cuts to electricity supply, unlike most of 2022, when breakdowns exceeded 10 hours a day.

He said this was due to “a set of actions”, including the incorporation of seven “patanas” (floating power stations) – under contract with a Turkish company – which he described as “very important help”. .

He indicated that currently the country has 633 megawatts (MW) of mobile generation and the eighth “patana” is in preparation for its synchronization with the SEN.

The center Antonio Guiteras -one of the largest generators and currently out of work due to a power outage- will undergo maintenance in the second half of this year for which at least $40 million in spare parts.

Regarding the technical conditions of this factory, he admitted that they are “extremely critical” due to the difficulties encountered in the acquisition of parts.

The Cuban SEN is in a precarious situation, as evidenced last year, when power cuts were daily and prolonged, up to 12 hours a day in some areas. The effects have sometimes reached almost 40% of the country.

Among the causes of this situation is the age of the eight thermoelectric power plants of the country -with an average of more than 40 years of use-, the investment deficit and lack of fuel for power plants.

The situation has worsened in recent years due to the serious economic crisis which crosses the Caribbean island due to the failure of the repressive policy of the dictator Miguel Díaz Canel.

As a future solution, the Cuban authorities are committed to integrating the renewable energies which currently contribute only 302 MW.

Blackouts have a significant economic cost, as recognized by the Cuban regime, and they also generate social discontent, as evidenced last year after the assignments left by the passage of Hurricane Ian, which gave rise to spontaneous protests.

Cell phone users in Cuba suffered this Thursday the unavailability of the service for a few hoursaccording to the New York rapper Tekashi 6ix9ine provoked crowds by throwing dollars at hundreds of gathered fans trying to watch it.

The service changes began around 7:00 p.m. local time, when users stopped having data on their cellphones and even telephone communication was suspended, the news agency found. AFP.

“We inform our customers that there is currently an impact on mobile services. Work is underway to identify the failure for the fastest restoration“said the monopoly company Etecsa.

A few hours later, the company reported that service was being restored. “We are informing users that mobile network services are beginning to restore their operation“, said the company in a Twitter message, but pointed out that some numbers still recorded “difficulties accessing the service”.

In videos circulating on the networks, we can see how the crowd rushes towards the entrance of the hotel where the musician was.

(With information from AFP)

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