Minister foresees improvement in electric power services in Cuba

The Minister of Energy and Mines of Cuba, Vicente de la O Levy, said Thurdsday that the island’s electric power distribution will start to improve as of this this weekend.

The power scenario will improve starting this weekend, when the service deficit will be around 500 to 600 megawatts, 100 of which will affect Havana, with the rest to be distributed among the rest of the provinces, he added.

La O said on national television that generation capacity will gradually increase throughout the country, although there are still difficulties to guarantee an optimal service.

In this regard, he mentioned problems at Lidio Ramón Pérez Thermoelectric Power Plant (CTE), located in the eastern province of Holguín, best known here as Felton.

Felton’s failure, he said, has coincided with faults in units in Santa Cruz (east of Havana) and Renté (CTE Antonio Maceo, in Santiago de Cuba, also in the east), in addition to the breakdown in Céspedes (CTE Carlos Manuel de Céspedes in Cienfuegos, in the center of the country).

However, he concluded, the current conditions are not identical to those that caused the recent collapse of the national electrical grid.

He also assured that there is fuel in the country, but the stormy weather at sea makes it impossible for tanker ships to dock.

Fuel is arriving and contracts have been secured, amid difficult circumstances to access them, the minister specified.

On Thursday night, he warned, the estimated impact for the period of maximum demand is 1,600 megawatts, as was forecast and disclosed in the morning.

Cuba is suffering from an electrical crisis, mainly due to the obsolescence of power plants, the impossibility of promoting investments in the sector and the difficulties in acquiring the necessary fuel.

For Cuban government authorities, the main obstacle to revitalizing this sector is the economic, commercial and financial blockade that the United States administration has applied to the island for more than six decades.