Havana, Aug 5. The Cuban state-owned company Unión Eléctrica (UNE) forecasts for this Friday an energy deficit of 28% of the generation capacity during the hours of greatest demand, one of the highest rates in recent months.
As a result, the long blackouts of recent days will continue, cuts that have affected different locations in the country for months, sometimes with up to 10 consecutive hours without electricity.
As reported by the UNE, the generation capacity at peak hours will rise to 2,342 MW megawatts (MW), while the maximum demand will then be 3,000 MW, with which the deficit will be 658 MW.
The UNE, which calculates a maximum impact of 728 MW during peak hours, also indicated that it estimates that there will be outages for much of the day.
Power outages – due to failures and breakages in old-fashioned thermoelectric plants, lack of fuel and scheduled maintenance – are becoming more frequent in the country.
In July blackouts were recorded on 29 of the 31 days, according to data from the UNE collated by Efe.
The situation, which weighs down all areas of the economy and significantly affects daily life, is beginning to stir up social discontent in Cuba.
Last year they were one of the reasons behind the anti-government protests on July 11, 2021, the largest in decades, according to analysts.
In recent days there have been several minor protests, mainly in small towns with prolonged blackouts, although they have also been registered in Santiago de Cuba and Havana.
Cuba relies heavily on foreign oil to produce energy (thermoelectric plants generate two-thirds of the electricity) and its main supplier, Venezuela, has notably reduced its shipments.
The Cuban government aspires to reduce this dependency and has a plan so that by 2030 37% of its energy mix (just over 3,500 megawatts) comes from renewable sources.
The country has been going through a serious economic crisis for two years due to the pandemic, the tightening of US sanctions and failures in national management. EFE
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