14ymedio, Madrid, 29 January 2024 — “The blackouts are aggressive and extreme.” The population reacts to the energy deficit announced for this Monday with astonishment and anger, like this resident from Sancti Spíritus. “They are turning it off twice a day, in the morning and at night. According to the frequency that is planned in ’the blocks’ but in those time slots. It’s unforgiving, like it’s the middle of August. In my neighborhood I’m fine, but some people are experiencing blackouts of nine and ten hours.”
In the middle of January, with temperatures that dropped again this morning, the Electric Union of Cuba (UNE) has once again foreseen a deficit of almost 1,000 megawatts (MW), on the third consecutive day. The official journalist Lázaro Manuel Alonso elaborated this Sunday: “The breakdowns in several units and the lack of fuel continue to be the causes. In the last days of January the effects are similar to those reported last summer.”
This highlights the seriousness of the energy situation on an Island that no longer needs to wait for hellish heat to have 12 to 14 hours of blackouts. But now, in the month when greater relief is expected, the figures are unprecedented.
Despite this, the deficit during yesterday’s peak time was 975 MW, above the 952 MW that had been predicted
The situation was aggravated on Sunday. The Antonio Guiteras thermal power plant, in Matanzas, the most important in the west of the country, was synchronized with the National Energy System (SEN). Despite this, the deficit in yesterday’s peak time was 975 MW, above the 952 MW that had been expected.
For Monday, the UNE announced that 991 MW will be missing, e