Cuba welcomes 7th powership to its fleet in struggle to keep lights on
15/11/2022 16:05
HAVANA, Nov 15 (Reuters) - Cuba welcomed on Tuesday a
seventh floating power plant to its growing fleet of shipboard
generators as the communist-run country seeks to bolster its
grid and bring relief to citizens who for months have suffered
daily, hours-long blackouts.
The so-called powership, leased from Turkey-based Karadeniz
Holding, is expected to feed an additional 110 megawatts of
electricity into Cuba´s grid by month's end, officials said, or
about one-tenth the average daily generation shortfall.
The seven floating powerplants, which will generate a total
of 400 megawatts, represent one part of an unorthodox and
improvised strategy announced earlier this year to stem a
growing energy crisis.
The cash-strapped government has said it also aims to
purchase small diesel-fired, land-based generators to supplement
the grid, and has announced plans to service its larger, though
obsolete, Soviet-era fuel-fired power plants.
Cuba's energy woes is perhaps the most painful symptom of a
deeper financial crisis caused by external factors such as U.S.
sanctions, the COVID-19 pandemic and poor economic management.
The modern powerships provide quick relief. They carry their
own generators fueled by oil or gas, anchor close to land and
connect with dedicated transmission lines to the local
electricity grid. They are typically leased by a host country.
Cuban oil-fired power plants are, by comparison, decrepit
and inefficient, averaging 35 years of age, with a backup system
of hundreds of smaller generators at least 15 years old.
Just 5% of Cuba's power currently comes from alternative
energy sources.
(Reporting by Dave Sherwood
Editing by Bill Berkrot)
((marc.frank@thomsonreuters.com; +537-833-3145; Reuters
Messaging: marc.frank.thomsonreuters.com@reuters.net))