Cuba’s Latest Attempts to Curb Worsening Power Outages
A new generator complex in Havana and help from China
This facility uses six Turkish chimneys but is located on land—only the engines remain to be installed.
HAVANA TIMES – This week, following a breakdown, the Havana Electric Company referred to a mysterious “Asticar power barge” that no energy sector authority had ever mentioned before. It was clearly not a floating power plant like the eight that the Turkish company Karpowership once operated on the island, but rather a land-based structure located at the Caribbean Shipyards (Astilleros del Caribe) in the capital. The gradual construction of this structure has been closely followed by 14ymedio since early August.
At that time, the structure—located where the Turkish floating plant Suheyla Sultan had previously been docked before leaving in August and leaving only the one in Regla behind—had just two of its six chimneys completed and was surrounded by cranes that still remain beside it. But this Saturday, the structures appeared to be finished. Its mention in the Havana Electric Company’s outage report suggests that the “Asticar power barge” might already be operational, though authorities have not disclosed how many megawatts (MW) it contributes or where it came from.
Asticar is located at a dock of the state-owned shipyard belonging to the Gemar Business Group of the Ministry of Transport, in the area known as Havana’s fishing port.
Regardless of its origin or generation capacity, any contribution to the National Electric System from these land-based engines would provide some relief to Cubans, who have endured long blackouts for months while authorities show no sign of foreseeing an improvement in the power supply.
“At my house, the blackout lasted all afternoon until ten at night,” Rolando, a resident of Nuevo Vedado, told 14ymedio. He barely managed to rest in the early hours of Friday. The heat wasn’t the only thing that disturbed his sleep; it was also the constant on-and-off of the power supply. “It went out again shortly after one, came back at three, and that wasn’t the end of it: a minute before seven it went out again, and at 7:03 it came back,” the Havana resident complained.
Authorities no longer know how to explain to frustrated Cubans that the state of the National Electric System will take time to fix. This Saturday, in a note published in Granma, the state media resorted to its worn-out phrases about “the most complex moments marked by the coincidence of unexpected shutdowns of generating units and insufficient fuel, causing large deficits and prolonged outages.”
For Saturday, the National Electric Union (UNE) announced that the deficit was expected to reach 1,765 MW during peak hours. The Minister of Energy and Mines, Vicente de la O Levy, also appeared on Cuban Television to explain the causes of the “exceptional technical failure” that left the grid with 270 MW less on Thursday night and sparked protests in the capital.
“The situation worsened with an unprecedented event: there was an exceptional failure that had never happened before. Three generating plants went offline at once,” he justified. Yet, two days later, with the units already recovered, the situation had not improved much.
To make matters worse, the minister confirmed that last week the country began to “run out” of available fuel—an announcement that contradicts data showing hundreds of thousands of barrels of oil arriving in recent months from Russia, Mexico, and Venezuela.
On Saturday morning, another “unexpected” problem nearly disconnected unit 6 of the Energas Boca de Jaruco gas plant, which provides between 100 and 120 MW.. According to company executives speaking on the Morning News, one of the plant’s seawater channels had to be cleared due to a buildup of sargassum.
The only hope for the UNE lies in Chinese donations, which—consisting of solar panels and industrial generators (engines)—aim to improve Cuba’s dilapidated electrical system. In early September, Beijing delivered to Matanzas eight generator units of 1.8 MW each, meant to completely rehabilitate the Guanabana power plant, located about 22 kilometers from the island’s largest thermoelectric plant, Antonio Guiteras.
In Ciego de Ávila, official media also reported, another 12 diesel engines of 25 MW each—donated by China—are being installed. The equipment has the same capacity as those sent to Matanzas and forms part of the government’s program to restore the Electrical System.
“In Ciego de Ávila, only the Morón diesel power plant with its eight engines was still operating, so this donation represents a very significant benefit,” authorities said, adding that a local small private business had been contracted to handle maintenance.
This and other donations from the Chinese government—such as the industrial generator installed in Trinidad last May—complement the much larger program being carried out with two Chinese private companies: the well-known project to install 2,000 MW of solar energy through the construction of 92 solar parks in two phases. The first contract, for 1,000 MW, is scheduled for completion in 2026, and the second in 2028.
First published in Spanish by 14ymedio and translated and posted in English by Havana Times.
YES! The Cuban government has GOT TO get this situation with the electricity under control again. Without the juice, it’s killing everything there across the island. In Camaguey city where I hang my hat, there’s no electricity there each day for up to 22 hours. Impossible for many Cubans to keep food not only frozen, but simply fresh in there refrigerators. Unless of course they’re one of the lucky ones who have a generator for the casa. But that’s only good if they can afford to buy, and also find, the high test gasoline needed to run the generator. My wife living there has told me that the local Sputnik gasoline station can’t sell her the high test gasoline anymore that’s needed for our unit – that’s only reserved for tourist rental cars, licensed taxis, trucks, and government officials. But the guy is now bending the rules for her when slipped a bit of cash to make it worth his while. For other Cubans without help from someone on the outside, no such luck with receiving remittances, or with a generator for backup either. It’s a cluster for them. Terrible!