Cuba is facing a serious paralysis of its energy system. This is the largest such failure since the collapse of the Soviet Union. – We are an island of zombies, we wander aimlessly – a resident of Havana told the New York Times. – We are on the Titanic, which is slowly sinking – he added.
Millions of Cubans have been living without electricity since Friday after the failure of the island's largest power plant. Only 20 percent the country regained access to electricity on Sunday.
Cuba's power grid it first collapsed around noon on Friday after the closure of the island's largest power plant. It happened again on Saturday morning, state media reported.
This is the longest power outage ever Cuba experienced in the three decades since the collapse of the Soviet Union, its former protector and fuel supplier, notes the New York Times.
“Experts have warned for years that Cuba's energy grid is on the verge of collapse because it relies on power plants that are almost half a century old and imports fuel that the poor communist government can barely afford,” writes the daily.
“We are zombie island”
Periodic power outages lasting several hours have occurred in Cuba before, but this time it is different, say the Cubans.
Residents of Havana describe the total darkness that fell on the city late on Friday evening. “Only the lights flickered in hospitals and modern hotels that have their own generators,” describes “NYT.”
– We are an island of zombies, we wander aimlessly – Giovanna Fardales, a 51-year-old resident of Havana, told the New York daily. – We are on the Titanic, which is slowly sinking – he added.
The situation of the Cubans may worsen Hurricane Oscar approaching the island from the east. Meteorologists predict that its effects will be felt in Cuba on Sunday. On Saturday afternoon, the government administration and the authorities of Cuban provinces issued warnings about the element approaching the shores of Cuba. According to forecasters, the hurricane will bring winds of 140 kilometers per hour to the island. According to meteorologists' predictions, hurricane winds will be accompanied by intense rainfall, which may lead to flooding.
“Prehistoric” power plants
Cuban economists and foreign analysts point to several factors that have caused the current crisis on the island. This is an aging energy infrastructure, limited fuel supplies from Venezuela, Mexico and Russia and lack of investment in renewable energy sources such as wind and solar energy.
Jorge Piñon, an energy expert at the University of Texas at Austin, told the New York Times that Cuba's power grid relies on eight very large power plants, nearly half a century old, that have not undergone any operational or capital maintenance in the last dozen or so years. years. The expert noted that the lifespan of this type of power plant is only 25-30 years.
– First of all, it is a structural problem. (Power plants – ed.) break down all the time and this causes a domino effect, Piñon said.
The problems are also compounded by the fact that Cuba uses crude oil as fuel for its plants. Experts say that the crude oil produced on the island is very rich in sulfur and metals that can interfere with the thermoelectric combustion process. “So they have to constantly fix them, and they do that by putting a band-aid over the problems,” Piñon said.
As the New York Times reminds, in the 1970s Cuba experimented with nuclear energy, and former Cuban leader Fidel Castro sent one of his sons to Moscow to study nuclear physics. Work even began on a nuclear power plant on the island's southern coast, but only a concrete outer shell was built and the project was frozen in the 1990s.
In 2006, when Cuba began experiencing power shortages due to hurricanes during the hot summer months, Castro imported thousands of huge diesel generators into the country, each capable of generating enough power to meet the needs of towns and villages across the country. country. – Thermoelectric power plants are prehistoric – Castro said in a televised speech. Since then diesel prices in Cuba increased dramatically, which severely strained the island's finances.
Recently, Kuba decided to lease from Turkey several ships to act as mobile power plants and generate 20 percent of the island's electricity. Huge vessels have become a common sight in the Bay of Havana, but the lease agreement requires that the fuel be provided by Cuba, notes the New York Times. Analysts cited by the daily estimate that Cuba produces about 40,000 barrels of fuel a day, but consumes three times as much. And fuel imports from Venezuela and Russia have dropped significantly in recent years.
A short romance with America
During Barack Obama's government, Cuba experienced a short “romance” with the United States. The Democrat's administration wanted to normalize bilateral relations with Havana after decades of mutual hostility and a ban on trade with the island, which significantly hampered its economic development. President Donald Trump However, Obama reversed course, leading to renewed restrictions on tourism, visa policy, remittances, investment and trade. The crisis was also deepened by the pandemic COVID-19which devastated Cuba's once thriving tourism industry, writes the New York Times.
As the daily adds, the United States authorities are closely monitoring the island for signs of social unrest. Power outages in July 2021 brought thousands of Cubans to the streets.
“If these plants cannot be restarted, there is concern that it could lead to another mass exodus,” Ricardo Herrero, director of the Cuba Study Group in Washington, told the New York Times. “They really have few options,” he added.
Main photo source: Norlys Perez / Reuters / Forum