At the Carlos Manuel de Céspedes electrical plant, it was decided to stop maintenance on machine 4 and begin work to incorporate it within the next 48 hours.

Havana, Cuba.- "It is admirable work," said the First Secretary of the Central Committee of the Communist Party of Cuba and President of the Republic, Miguel Díaz-Canel Bermúdez, referring to all the efforts deployed by the workers who have made and are making the recovery of the National Electric System (SEN) possible.

He added that, once all services have been restored, it will be necessary to evaluate "how we are going to manage the deficit in the coming days."

According to the information reports that closed at 3:00 p.m. on Monday, the electric power service had reached 37% throughout the country, and in the capital, late in the afternoon, more than 90% of the clients had electrical service.

This was reported by the head of Energy and Mines, Vicente de la O Levy, during the check-up meeting to follow up on two exceptional situations: the recovery of the National Electric System and the passage of the meteorological phenomenon Oscar.

In statements to the press team of the Presidency of the Republic, De la O Levy explained that the working principle that has been followed has been similar, but now "a little calmer, raising the Energas units, which at this moment are all ready and only one is left to synchronize," he said.

"This allowed us," the Minister explained, "to reach Havana and start up the flatbeds, and then continue through the substations of that province and reach Mariel, to start up a unit of the thermoelectric plant located there, from which it was possible to «give steam to the flatbed sites that are in Mariel" and synchronize them.

"At this time, the situation in the western part of the island is qualitatively superior to that of previous days," said the head of Energy and Mines.

According to the information offered by the Minister, with the incorporation of Nuevitas 5, it will also be possible to "further improve the eastern zone, which is the most affected today."

The strategy, he reiterated, is to start up the System "in a much slower manner; we are not going to rotate circuits; we are not going to incorporate power abruptly, seeking to prevent another fall from occurring."

The Electric Union reported, through its Facebook page, that the Antonio Guiteras thermoelectric plant (CTE) had synchronized with the central microsystem, and continues to increase the load while delivering about 105 megawatts (MW).

PINAR DEL RÍO RECEIVES POWER AGAIN

Pinar del Río received power again on Monday afternoon from the National Electric System. Although these are still discrete figures, this begins to alleviate the situation of a territory that had been completely shut down since Friday morning.

Eumelin González Sánchez, vice president of the Provincial Defense Council (CDP), explained that, in the face of this complex contingency, three microsystems were formed in the province, from the available generator set sites.

With the largest of them, in the capital of Pinar del Río, the vitality of the circuits of the three hospitals and the well field that supplies the city has been maintained.

Meanwhile, with the remaining two, located at both ends of the province, priority objectives have also been met, and service has been provided for a few hours to a small part of the population.

The Vice President of the (CDP) commented that the lack of electricity has further complicated other vital activities, such as the water supply, which was already a difficult situation, and essential tasks such as cooking food in homes.

With the reconnection of Vueltabajo, he specified, the indication is to begin to provide service through the circuits that have been without electricity for the longest time, and to rotate them according to the number of megawatts available.

THE 10 OCTOBER CTE STARTED

Following the breakdown in the 220 KV line, which occurred in the Jatibonico area on Sunday afternoon, which took block 5 of the 10 de Octubre thermoelectric plant in Nuevitas out of the central microsystem, work began to resynchronize the machine and strengthen the microsystem. In the morning hours of October 21, unit five was already providing 73 megawatts to the subsystem created from Matanzas to Camagüey.

At the same time, work was done on the breakdown in the steam route of Unit 6, and it is now ready to provide up to 90 MW, which would allow the base of that central system to be further strengthened, Jorge Luis Maceira Esteva, general director of the thermoelectric plant, explained to Granma by telephone.

The current situation does not allow power to be provided to a large number of circuits, so priority is given to hospitals and vital services that should not be turned off.

THE FIGHT FOR ENERGY IS BEING WON IN CIENFUEGOS

On Monday afternoon, the Cienfuegos subsystem with Villa Clara and Matanzas was already reestablished. This guarantees service to the two provincial hospitals, the Carlos Manuel de Céspedes power station, and some possible circuits in the city, which facilitate this operation.

Other circuits in the distribution network have also benefited, and allow connection with both provinces, such as the three in Lajas, the three in Cruces, and the two in Aguada de Pasajeros.

At the time of closing this note, the subsystem generated 33.3 MW; of these 9.26 MW feed eight circuits; and the other 24.04 MW are provided to facilitate the start-ups and synchronization of CTE and generating units, regulating frequency, from Villa Clara, with the Hanabanilla hydroelectric plant.

This condition will remain stable, without the possibility of rotating or closing new circuits, until the subsystem is strengthened with the incorporation of new generating units.

At the CTE Carlos Manuel de Céspedes, it was decided to stop maintenance on machine 4 and begin work to incorporate it in the next 48 hours.

GRANMA MAINTAINS ELECTRICAL GENERATION

After several actions to maintain the stability of electrical generation by microsystem, in the province of Granma, up to the closing of this information, about 40 MW had been served.

According to a note from the Electric Company of the province, with this generation capacity, some 109,978 consumers received partial electric service, out of 282,554, and 52 circuits were maintained with service.

The information specified that this electricity generation is carried out through a microsystem that works from the distributed generation in the municipalities of Manzanillo, Niquero, and Bayamo.

As a priority, in Granma, the stability of the generators located in Health centers is also guaranteed, to which the necessary fuel is supplied while the Fuel Marketing Company of the Cuba-Petroleum Union is working to increase the hours of coverage, and thus maintain the continuity of its operations until the service is restored.

ELECTRICITY IS GUARANTEED FOR VITAL POINTS IN CIEGO DE ÁVILA

The fulfillment of the correct maintenance program and the high technical readiness of the 264 generator sets that work continuously in the province, allowed the activation of these teams in a short time, because of the electrical emergency that the country and the province are experiencing.

Reinier Hernández Juan, director of the Basic Production Unit of Emergency Generator Services (EMER) in the province, said, exclusively to Granma, that this allowed supplying electricity to 100% of the so-called key points of the ten municipalities of Ciego de Ávila, including the provincial capital.

Among these points are hospitals, polyclinics, bakeries, nursing homes, aqueducts, dental clinics, and hotels outside the tourist destination Jardines del Rey, an emporium with its generation.

The Ciego de Ávila EMER is among the best in the country, with a technical availability coefficient of over 86%, well above the national average.

Given the current energy contingency, the generator sets are forced to intensify their work regime, reaching 23 continuous hours, much higher than the six or eight hours of the design capacity. (RHC)