FAQs

As we have already explained, the installed capacity in our electrical system is higher than the maximum demand, which includes that of facilities that are currently closed or with low utilization due to the situation of the Covid-19 pandemic.

With the reopening of these centers, the economy will have the financial resources that, in turn, will guarantee the execution of maintenance and actions to recover generation capacities.

The solution is to recover generation capacities that are unavailable today. This obviously requires financing.

Until now, the country has maintained the priority of guaranteeing the supply of imported fuels for electricity generation, as well as other resources for electricity generation, for which it makes great efforts in the context in which we live. Some of the resources required to sustain the National Electric System are in the country. Financing has been earmarked to acquire the necessary resources for part of the fuel and diesel engines of distributed generation, which will make it possible to increase the available power of this generation.

There is also a scheduled maintenance program and as the resources are completed, within the possibilities of acquiring them, they will begin to be executed.

At the moment, two thermal units are in the adjustment and start-up stage, Felton No. 1, which underwent a major intervention, replacing, although not all, an important part of its components and aggregates and No. 6 of Mariel. With its commissioning, 360 MW of power come into operation, which will allow us to begin a stage of more extended and larger maintenance.

There is also a program and alternatives are being sought for the development of projects with renewable energy sources.

Before explaining the causes of the effects, we consider that it would be useful first to explain how our generation park is made up. 40.6% of the generation power is produced with thermoelectric plants, 21.7% with fuel oil engines, 21.9% with diesel engines, almost 8% is produced with the accompanying gas of oil production, 5% with renewable sources of energy (water, sun and wind) and the remaining 3% is produced in the floating units located in the Mariel. Sustaining the electrical system is expensive. Most of the inputs used are imported and the service is charged in national currency.

The failures in the generating units of the national electricity system have several causes.

The one with the greatest weight is the fact that our base generation fleet is aging. In the country there are 8 thermoelectric plants with a total of 19 blocks in operation, plus a new one that must be incorporated in the coming days, after completing its adjustment and start-up phase (unit No. 6 of the Mariel thermoelectric plant), These constitute an important part of the base generation of the electrical system.

The useful life of a thermoelectric plant is between 30 and 35 years, in our case except the two Felton blocks, which have 25 and 21 synchronized years, respectively, all the others have more than 30 years of operation and 7 of them have more than 40 years working.

In addition to the 8 thermoelectric plants, there are other sources of generation in the country,

Another reason for the effects is undoubtedly the non-execution of the planned maintenance of the generation units, depending to a great extent on maintenance due to opportunities in the event of unforeseen departures due to breakdowns or defects in progress that force the immediate exit of the service. This has caused that currently 16 of the 19 units, work outside their capital maintenance cycles, some of them for more than 2 cycles.

The third cause could be associated with the financial limitations caused by the application of chapter three of the US Helms-Burton Act and the entire package of sanctions of the administration of that country, which prevents us from acquiring the material resources necessary for repairs or have access to credit lines from international financial institutions.

Finally, another major cause of breakdowns is the quality of the fuel used in our thermal units. With the disappearance of the socialist camp and the disintegration of the USSR, it was necessary to readapt the combustion systems of our thermoelectric plants to burn the national crude, which has chemical characteristics that require an increase in the cleaning regime of the boilers, shortening the deadlines for the maintenance and make the same deeper; as well as using chemical additives that improve the quality of the crude oil used.

For the reasons explained above, today our thermal blocks present a deterioration situation that has been worsening over time, causing them to lose their stability and safety, with many unforeseen departures due to breakdowns and deep power limitations, so that they do not guarantee times of permanence in line nor the necessary available powers, that allow to plan and execute the maintenance as it is due.

It is important that it is known that the UNE has qualified technical personnel for the programming, preparation, organization and execution of the maintenance of its generation units.

The Electric Union has, within its work system, control mechanisms for the preservation and proper use of resources. The violation of procedures that violate the proper use of any work asset or resource is considered a very serious offense, so that there is no room for impunity in the event of an act of theft, diversion or administrative corruption.

In addition, the electrical infrastructure is considered within the critical structures of the country. There is a decree that regulates the process of selection and hiring of personnel who work in key positions in the organization, we work in a close framework with the bodies and agencies empowered and responsible for the control and preservation of socialist legality.

Finally, we must say that electrical workers, the vast majority are characterized by being humble, simple and hardworking people and there are many examples that they have given throughout the revolutionary process.

The globalization of the economy brought as a consequence an economic integration that has completely changed the course of human history in all its aspects, so it is a mistake to assume that trade with allied or friendly countries is the same as the period before the globalization. No country in the world is totally self-sufficient and needs international trade to balance its internal demand; Although it is true that this has advantages, for Cuba it implies the extension of the impact of the extraterritorial laws and sanctions to the relations with allied markets.

Breakdowns in industries happen and worst of all is that "breakdowns are always more expensive." To the extent that companies carry out a preventive maintenance plan, also known as industrial maintenance, unforeseen breakdowns are reduced and the entire company benefits, since we can anticipate problems in a high percentage.

Carrying out a maintenance plan helps to reduce all the costs that a breakdown brings with it, by reducing machine downtime and production under-activity. In addition, the number of interventions, the hours used and the costs of corrective maintenance that are caused a posteriori to solve the breakdowns are also reduced.

Maintenance plans are carried out, determining goals and objectives, that is, establishing exactly what you want to obtain from it. The main objectives to be achieved in any plan are to minimize production stoppages in number and time, and to reduce maintenance costs. All this is achieved thanks to a correct planning and coordination of the works. In addition, more specific and achievable goals are set, such as, for example, increasing equipment availability by X%, reducing failures by a certain%, improving workforce utilization by a specific%, etc. .

Once the maintenance goals and objectives have been determined, a budget is established, taking into account the frequency recommended by the equipment manufacturer, maintenance costs, revision dates, etc. Associated with each team, the spare parts and consumables commonly used in these interventions are provided.

We had already explained that most of the inputs used to sustain the SEN were imported, so that the results of these plans are included in the financing plans to be acquired from the country's central financing account for their subsequent execution. , as the Unión Eléctrica does not have its own financing scheme in foreign currency.

The consumption of the electricity service cannot be seen as a simple product that is consumed (eg, Bread. Well, if I could not eat a piece of bread now, later I would eat four) because it has many parameters that influence its increase or decrease. Temperature (hot or cold), number of people in the home, equipment efficiency, habits of rational use of equipment. How the blackout influences household consumption is something that a responsible study and analysis of all the variants must carry out beforehand.

Refrigeration equipment is the only one that can recover the energy left to use as a result of the blackout, the rest of the equipment stops consuming. In short, the electricity bill corresponds to the actual energy consumed. In the blackout time, consumption is zero and when the service is restored, only the refrigeration equipment will require more time to reestablish its optimal operating parameters. In inverter technology equipment, consumption does not vary, rather it decreases, since they have a short high-speed start and once they reach working temperature, the machine is kept working at low revolutions. A normal refrigeration equipment does take longer to acquire the set temperature and this can cause an increase in consumption, after the service is restored, so we recommend trying not to open the refrigerators and fridges unnecessarily, so that it preserves the temperature for a longer time. indoor temperature.

The installed capacity in our electrical system is higher than the maximum demand. Today the problem lies in the sustained limitations of the thermal generation blocks and the breakdowns that occur, both in thermal generation and in distributed generation, for the reasons explained, which cause the effects on the service and the lack of coverage of the demand.

Yes, as has been explained to the media on other occasions, based on the difficult situation presented by the SEN base generation, disconnections of the electricity service have been planned and organized in all the country's provinces. This planning consists of distributing the hours of the day in 4 blocks of circuits organized by a blackout time of no more than 4 hours each.

For any electrical system to operate in a stable and safe manner, it requires a reserve power available to face any contingency that occurs in that system. In the case of the Cuban SEN, this required reserve must be equal to or greater than 500 MW. Given the conditions already addressed, which are the cause for the occurrence of electrical service impairments, these possible impairments are scheduled.

In the current context, there are many circuits that are not included in the programming of the affectations, since from them hospitals, polyclinics, isolation centers, vaccination centers or any other type that require a continuous guarantee of electricity supply are fed.

We have received complaints from the population, some associated with the fact that the time of the affectation is greater than the planned 4 hours. Why is this happening? Without excluding attention to improve the reconnection process of the affected circuits, which can always be improved, it sometimes happens that the coincidence of the use of electricity at the same time, causes the circuits to trip at the moment of reconnection and it takes some time to gradually increase the reconnected load. It may also be that in a territory one or two electrical service carts are available to perform all the manipulations to the switches that restore service and inevitably, these carts cannot operate all the switches at the same time. The reconnection process begins at the end of the 4 hours planned for that block and it could take a few minutes for all the manipulations to be completed.

Another reason for exceeding the impact time is that a fault occurs in the SEN at the time of reconnection and the power availability is not sufficient to cover the demand at that time.

The information on the electricity service disconnection blocks is published daily in the institutional profiles of each Electric Company, in addition to the profiles of our electric companies on social networks such as Twitter and Facebook; it is communicated to the command posts of the Government and PCC, the flat and digital press, the radio and telecentres. Additionally, local authorities up to the level of the Popular Council have this information to be transmitted to the population.

Finally, it is necessary to specify that the planned effects occur exclusively when the conditions of the SEN do not guarantee its stable operation, taking into account the criteria explained for the reserve available to face contingencies in the electrical system.

If during the day there are no problems to meet the demand of the SEN, the effects do not occur, even when they are planned for a specific block.