Deficits of more than 1,500 megawatts (MW) have put greater stress on the difficult electricity production scenario that the country has been going through for months.
The repercussions in the territory of Ciego de Ávila were immediate on Monday the 8th of the current month when a maximum of 74 MW were turned off for more than nine hours (hrs.), a figure that represented almost two thirds of the demand during the night peak hours.
What strategy will be outlined in the province to minimize, as much as possible, the effects on the population in worsening scenarios like this? In what state are elements of the electrical network with this contingency? Which clients are protected? Daniel Pérez García, CEO of Electrical Power Company from Ciego de Ávila, commented on these and other issues at a press conference.
“The blackout schedule, made from three blocks of 35 MW each, has been impossible to comply with, exceeding this figure in recent days. In that, the forecast was an affectation of three hours for six with service.
“Based on the serious situation of the last few days, another two-block plan was conceived, taking into account the increase in requests for affectations by the National Cargo Dispatch, in which, in the event of a deficit between 45 and 50 MW for the province, the circuits will be in a cycle of three hours with service and three off; however, if it rises to more than 55 MW, the impact would rise to six hours and would decrease to three with electricity.“
The previous issue depends on the availability of generation at all times from the National Electro-energetic System (SEN), so we recommend that the population stay updated through our social networks on the Internet and the Telegram channel https://t.me/ eecav”.
In the worst scenario, circuits A208 and A110, linked to the Dairy Combined Company, and circuits 2 and 3, which serve electricity to the Doctor Antonio Luaces Iraola Provincial Hospital, will continue under the three-by-three regime, as will those of Micro Norte and Nereida in the city of Morón, which provide energy to the Dairy of that municipality. There are no protected circuits, but those clients.
Precisely, the manager points out the deterioration and instability that the SEN has registered in recent months, which affects the "quota assigned" to properties of the territory. If the average monthly impact time in April was 16 hours, May closed with 47 hours, in June it rose to 100.3 hours and July ended with 103.4 hrs.
Facts that, just by taking a sample button, last month caused a barrage of calls to the entity's Telephone Center (18888) by registering more than 93,000 valid ones, when the historical monthly average does not exceed 10,000. Even, after a weather event of the proportions of Hurricane Irma, it was 35,000.
With the restoration of the circuits, the phenomenon known as load coincidences occurs, when the equipment is connected at the same time in homes and workplaces, which causes levels of demand never seen before. In addition, it increases the stress to which the elements of the network are subjected.
During July alone, Pérez García said, “26 distribution transformers burned in the province, 14 of them due to overload. In the vast majority of cases, the reserve is minimal or does not exist, so alternatives are sought from the provincial workshop to repair them, recover parts and save their oil.
Regarding transportation, the manager commented that there are difficulties in the entity's automotive fleet, with a serious situation of technical availability, insufficient to carry out all the tasks. Many maintenance actions are conditioned by this, to which fuel limitations are added, not unrelated to this sector.
Despite the imponderables, he says that Ciego de Ávila`s electrical workers do not rest. During these times, pruning is carried out as the main activity for the protection of infrastructures, as well as the check-up and repair of groundings (grounding in the event of electrical discharges). All this without going beyond the blackout time, so as not to add greater inconvenience to customers.
“This huge increase in demand due to blackouts generates false contacts, hence the need to adjust the various contacts of the network connectors. Transformers are tested to avoid possible breakdowns.
“Here you work under very strong pressure. These workers also have their homes affected and must go out late at night or early in the morning to repair a breakdown. There are entities that, due to their work system, leave breakdowns and solve them the next day, which is not and cannot be the action of the electricians.
"The claim is when there is a fault that implies extending the affected hours after the scheduled blackout, we must follow it in real time, to later limit the time that they are without service in that circuit."
Likewise, restrictions on the state sector are maintained and reinforced, with emphasis on peak hours, including several continuous production entities.
Regarding the very serious situation of the SEN that we are going through these days, with deficits of over 1,000 MW, which has led the territory to plan blocks with six hours without service and three hours of electricity, Pérez García hopes that it will not spread too many days, but it all depends on the availability present in the thermal units.
An improvement in gravity is expected by the end of the month with the entry of unit 4 of the Carlos Manuel de Céspedes Thermoelectric Power Plant (CTE) (Cienfuegos), after maintenance, and the repair and installation of the unit's turbine rotor 8 of the CTE Máximo Gómez (Mariel, Artemisa).