Cuba goes dark: Guiteras plant goes offline and the power utility forecasts a 1,890 MW shortfall

Cuba's power crisis worsened on Thursday after the Antonio Guiteras thermoelectric plant, the country's main generating unit, went offline because of a breakdown in its boiler economizer. The plant disconnected on Wednesday at 4:06 p.m., when it was generating 180 MW.

The outage coincides with scheduled maintenance at Felton's Unit 1 in Holguín, which will last at least 21 days. The Electric Union (UNE) forecast a shortfall of 1,890 MW for Thursday's peak demand hours, with availability of just 840 MW against demand of 2,700 MW.

Blackouts continued for 24 hours on Wednesday. In Havana, a circuit in Boyeros and Lisa had been without service for 37 hours and 43 minutes by Thursday morning, according to the capital's power company. The UNE reports four units broken down and three under maintenance, and has not said when Guiteras will return.

The thermoelectric plant, inaugurated in the 1980s, is still awaiting a comprehensive overhaul. In the meantime, its workers keep fixing partial breakdowns to keep operating a plant that has suffered repeated outages caused by economizer leaks throughout the year.

Photo: OnCubaNews

Source: OnCubaNews