Cuban government awaits new floating thermoelectric unit as it announces new blackouts.
The fourth unit of its kind on the island would be the result of a collaboration with a Turkish energy company.
In the next few weeks, the Cuban government will receive a newly built floating thermoelectric power plant from Turkey, as reported by Cubadebate, a state-run website.
As part of this project, the Ministry of Energy and Mines signed an international agreement with the Turkish company Karen for the delivery of another power plant which will provide 15 megawatts (MW) to the national electro-energy system.
This unit, as part of the Turkish company’s first project in Latin America, will be complementing the four existing ones in Havana Bay and in the area surrounding the Máximo Gómez Báez thermoelectric power plant located in Mariel, in Artemisa, said the official report.
According to Cubadebate, the energy technology vessels allow the maintenance of other thermal power plants to contribute to augmenting the national reserve and replace the use of diesel, one of the most expensive fuels in power generation.
The Unión Eléctrica (national power utility), in the meantime, reported new interruptions in electricity supply due to the shutdown of unit No. 1 of the Felton thermoelectric plant in Mayarí, Holguín, and also a unit in Nuevitas, Camagüey, due to malfunction.
The outages will be scheduled for the different territories, indicated a note published on the website of the Ministry of Energy and Mines.
Over the last two years, electricity supply disruptions have been very frequent. The Government has hidden behind the U.S. sanctions and poor maintenance levels in power plants. Most Cuban thermoelectric generators’ technology surpasses the operating time for which they were originally developed.
