- 18 hours ago
The Cuban president provides updated information on the current energy situation of the country, as well as upcoming measures to be implemented to improve the situation. teleSUR
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00:00Greetings, President.
00:02Besides this news that is creating a lot of headlines since the information came out a few minutes ago,
00:09there's national issues that are also of interest for our people.
00:14And I believe that the most urgent has to do with the energy situation.
00:19In these days, the blackouts have increased.
00:22We have to face a lot of contingency.
00:24What practical effects are happening in the country?
00:27You were talking, there's been three months without fuel.
00:30So what practical effects is having the decision of the U.S. government to strengthen the energy blockade against the
00:37country?
00:38How are we facing this?
00:39What are the alternatives that we have to be able to curb that heighten, that increase in blackouts and the
00:48impact it has on all Cuban society?
00:52I would say this is the issue that most discomfort is creating in our people right now.
01:00And it has to do, I insist, with the energy blockade, with the strengthening of the energy situation that has
01:08put forth that blockade.
01:12It is a situation for which we have been preparing beforehand, and on that we explain a whole group of
01:22proposals of actions and measures that we are developing in the current times.
01:32Let's talk what has changed from the moment I explained in my previous press conference to now, in relation to
01:39this situation, as you said, has aggravated in the last two weeks, especially.
01:44Well, in the first place, it's been three months without an entry of fuel to the country.
01:50Therefore, we are generating power during the day with national crude oil and our thermoelectrics.
02:01And besides, also the support of renewable sources, which is considerable, which in this time is being between 49%
02:13and 50% independence also of the conditions.
02:19And also, another thing that we have to explain, the instability of the national setting, the national system, that energy
02:26from the photo will take parts to regulate frequencies and avoid blackouts, which is a new element that was introduced
02:34in these last two weeks, and it's something that we'll explain later.
02:53Now, additionally to this, before last week, we had a certain disponibility of diesel and fuel, that we were using
03:06them in the future.
03:07In two main establishments, which are the engines for the distribution engines in MOA and a system of engine that
03:15we have in Mariel, three months without fuel, that diesel ran out and the deposit ran out.
03:24Therefore, there is a considerable number of megawatts that are no longer available, especially for which we were using for
03:32the most important hour at night.
03:36And puts the system in a situation of a lot of instability.
03:43Look, we have managed to maintain in January, February, blackouts that were not greater than the ones from December.
03:53We had managed to establish an effective measure to regulate the blackouts.
03:59So it doesn't mean that there were no blackouts, there were blackouts, but not of the magnitude that we had
04:02in the last two weeks.
04:05Despite these two distribution engines that went out of service, that is the only two that we were able to
04:12use until now, until now.
04:16We have not been able to use them all this time due to the lack of fuel due to that
04:21energy blockade.
04:22If we had fuel, we would have in the nighttime 1,400 megawatts more of generation that would bring us
04:29out of that heightened hour.
04:31There was a deficit of 500, 600, 700 megawatts, but we could close the night and the impact would be
04:40way less than the ones that we have right now.
04:45Since these two distribution centers, the system becomes very unstable.
04:55And there is a day there was an abrupt exit of the Guitera thermoelectric.
04:59Therefore, the oscillation that that occurred brought about the disconnection of the energy system.
05:09To return from the blackout situation, we need fuel in the energy islands to be able to give signals to
05:18be able to turn on the thermoelectors,
05:21to be able to synchronize them and also synchronize the photovoltaic parks.
05:27So we need also a minimum amount of fuel for that.
05:31And it was used, and we already used them because it was foreseen to be used in this kind of
05:37occasion.
05:38So we overcame that disconnection without counting with Guiteras, but we are right now in a situation of instability.
05:48For example, today in recent days in Havana, a substation went out and it provided a lot of circuits to
05:58go blackout.
05:59And people ask, how come they cannot regulate this?
06:03And it's just something that we cannot be foreseen because we see these elements that go out without previous warning.
06:09And then we have to act quickly and create oscillations and instability in the system.
06:15And amidst all that wave of adversity and complexity is that that situation is happening.
06:22And we must act on that situation.
06:25So in a situation of instability like this, we cannot take advantage during the day.
06:31All the power, all the energy that is being generated by the photovoltaic parks,
06:37because we must regulate frequencies of the energy system to avoid another disconnection.
06:47So those are the reasons why the deficit right now is different from the deficit that we handle in other
06:55times.
06:58In regards to this, the impact is huge, and it can be seen, and it can be seen, of course,
07:07in these issues of energy.
07:09We have had whole municipalities out, and the issue is not only in Havana.
07:14In the provinces, we've had circuits with more than 30 hours of blackouts.
07:23That creates a situation of anger, of discomfort, of anguish among the population, because it impacts in everything.
07:33It impacts water supply.
07:35So two things that are very vital in a household, in a family, in the livelihood of a family, acting
07:42at the same time.
07:47It impacts also in the vitality of the production services as well, and also to provide services to the population.
07:55It impacts in communications as well, because radio bases also run out of energy.
08:02It impacts also in the health services, in education, in transportation, and we can see how this impacts across all
08:15systems and infrastructures of the daily life of Cubans.
08:24Now, I can tell you that nothing is being turned off here because we want to bother someone.
08:32We are doing the impossible.
08:34I cannot describe, I can only say from the sentiment and respect, I have no words to describe the efforts
08:42that our workers of the electric union are doing, which are titans.
08:47Because they do those efforts, they go above the adversity, but they also have the problems at home with their
08:53families.
08:54And in many times there, when they have 30 hours, 40 hours of blackouts in one of their communities affecting
09:00one of their families,
09:01they have been working for more than 40 hours without rest in a thermoelectric or in a photovoltaic park or
09:08seeking solutions to this issue.
09:13And therefore, and I don't question in the issues of not understanding the discomfort, but I do regret that there
09:22are people that are experiencing this discomfort, which is legitimate.
09:26It's true, it's true, it's real, that their answer is to curse the revolution, to curse the government, to curse
09:34the institution, the electric institution.
09:37Because the fault is not of the revolution, the fault is not of the government, the fault is not of
09:42our energy system.
09:44The revolution government workers are doing a great effort to overcome what is impossible.
09:52The fault is of the energy blockade that has been imposed on us.
09:57And I would ask, what capacity would have other countries that amid a blockade like this one, that's been for
10:04more than three months,
10:06who would have capacity to have the levels of electric generation that we have maintained?
10:11That's only been possible for using a very rational use, I would say creative innovator of the national crude oil,
10:22from which we are opening a new perspective, and for another part, all the investment that with an extraordinary effort
10:29amid this blockade,
10:30we are making an investment that is making a change in the energy matrix that is visible.
10:38Because as I was explaining the other day, if we didn't have the 1,000 megawatts of solar power that
10:44we had in this time,
10:45what would be happening in the day, and we would have been jumping from blackout to blackout, the impact would
10:53be greater.
10:54And those are the reasons that explain the differences of what has happened in the last weeks.
10:59We are talking about that reality, of that complexity, but I want to also talk about what we are doing.
11:07Understanding that everything doesn't have an immediate solution, but there are solutions.
11:10Actually, there are solutions right now, but what happens is that the magnitude of the problem is so great that
11:16the solutions are not visible.
11:21And I have some data here.
11:23I want to stop in a topic, so that you understand the perversity that exists, the evil that exists with
11:31this energy blockade.
11:32Right now in this country, there are tens of thousands of people waiting for a surgical operation that cannot be
11:40done due to the lack of energy.
11:46But in those tens of thousands, there is an important part of children that are waiting for a surgical operation
11:58and cannot be done due to the impact of the energy blockade and due to the impact it has on
12:06our health system.
12:08And however the country lives, the country lives.
12:13A failed state cannot face all this situation.
12:16A failed state cannot seek to resolve and how to move forward.
12:21I don't remember if it was yesterday or before an article that was published in Cuba Debate of a journalist
12:31recognizing the complexity,
12:34but was also talking about the beautiful things that were happening at the same time in this country every day.
12:43Children going to school, the way a patient is cared for in a hospital with a complex disease.
12:51The effort we are following every month, the work of the provinces.
13:00We are not doing the second report of what has happened in the provinces and how the provinces have developed
13:08their strategies.
13:10Colleagues, the amount of solutions that have been found, the way that life is being organized for bread to provide
13:18services and offers of food.
13:22In the way that with all these limitations we are working in the Cuban field to produce more food.
13:28The way that transportation has been organized for the people of health.
13:36The way that the school year is taking place both in the middle school, elementary school and also in higher
13:43education.
13:47But also with cultural spectacles of the highest level.
13:51Those are our realities.
13:52Those are also the expressions that we have a people that acts with resistance.
13:58That keeps us united and in that unity there is an important powerhouse to face this situation.
14:06So I will talk what we have done.
14:09I will explain the data I will give.
14:13I don't want to bore you with this data.
14:15But this data show the continuity that we have given to what we had already explained previously.
14:23But it's the results of a single month.
14:27So we must take this into account.
14:29If in a month we were able to advance this far, how much can we advance in the coming month?
14:35Allow me to read some data here.
14:50Well, the exploitation of new oil has grown to use for the national production of oil and accompanying gas.
14:58And in the two first months of the year, we overachieved the plans of oil production.
15:04And with that, we were able to stop a tendency that was happening in the country that would close the
15:11year 2025, decreasing and not fulfilling the plans of production of gas and oil.
15:20This is very important.
15:21We must recall that one of the main focus for the energy is that we must learn how to live
15:26from our own sources.
15:27And those sources are that national crude oil and that accompanying gas.
15:33With more national crude oil, we will have more to use in our thermoelectric.
15:37And this is taking part as part of the recovery of capacity generation in thermoelectrics.
15:43Maybe today, over the weekend, we were able to incorporate a new thermoelectric in the system, which is one of
15:51the units in Cienfuegos, in Cespedes, which are over 100 megawatts.
15:57But it's not only to recover the thermoelectric, but we must have national crude oil to be able to use
16:03it.
16:04And all these measures allow us to have the capacity to have the fuel to generate that power.
16:09And with the accompanying gas, we must recall that we had fulfilled to grow in 25,000 consumers of manufactured
16:18gas in Havana City.
16:20And that's already been implemented.
16:23And there is a new service that in a month has been habilitated.
16:29We already built four tanks on the basis of the supertankers.
16:33Remember what happened after that fire that happened in a situation.
16:36And we needed tanks to be able to store fuel.
16:41We have recovered, in what has gone from here, we have recovered 185 megawatts of power generation.
16:50As I was saying, solar parks are generating among 49 and 51 percent of energy during the day.
17:02Now, there are over 529 new clients of manufactured gas in Havana, of the over 20,000 foreseen, of which
17:13we will have in just one month.
17:16This is not just get there.
17:18Remember, we must go there.
17:19We must put all the insulation, all the pipe work to be able to deliver to the home that gas.
17:26We have reached, we were able to make sure that almost all bakeries in the country that were identified that
17:35could transform for the type of energy to use for the production has been done.
17:44And this has been done to ensure bread.
17:46We have installed 955 photovoltaic systems in isolated houses and social center that provide service to attention to the people
18:01in different municipalities.
18:02For example, yesterday, when we made the analysis with some provinces, there are provinces that have covered a whole municipality,
18:13all their polyclinics.
18:14All their polyclinics work with solar power, social centers, and that's a reality.
18:22Aside from a number of houses that are isolated to which were also being, were given the service.
18:30So we are talking about polyclinics, early homes, communication stations to be able to sustain, to maintain communications, funerary homes,
18:44and other centers.
18:46120 children with diseases that require constant air conditioners in their homes already have the solar power that guarantees in
18:57their homes 24 hours power.
18:59And now we are doing also another census that the health ministry is doing to extend the service to more
19:05families.
19:06If you remember, we talked that there was a group of workers, especially in sectors of health and education, to
19:13which we were going to install 10,000 modules.
19:17Well, 10,000, three, four modules have been installed.
19:21Those people already are receiving that benefit.
19:27In the next weeks, we are going to incorporate new capacities in the solar parks.
19:33We have finished new parks that are pending to all the technical assistance from the providers.
19:41They are already finished.
19:43As soon as the technical assistance gives the validity of the park, they will be introduced to the national system.
19:51So I want to highlight the following.
19:54There is a project that comprises the installation.
19:58It's not a photovoltaic park.
20:01It's the installation of battery stations of 50 MW in accumulation of energy.
20:12This energy, this accumulation is to regulate frequency.
20:16So what we are doing today with the solar parks, these battery stations would help that.
20:24So we could take better advantage of the solar parks and the national electrical system would be more stable.
20:31We are already charging.
20:33We are already electrically charging eight of the 16 containers that complete that project.
20:43Therefore, the first 25 MW of accumulation of battery for regulating frequency, we will have them available in the coming
20:54days.
20:55And we are going to continue working in the other eight containers to complete the 50 MW that will help
21:01to regulate frequency and will avoid the disconnection of the national electric system.
21:05So we have four new solar parks of 21 MW each.
21:09So it's roughly 85 MW more.
21:13And there's another three parks of a total of 15.
21:1915 as a whole will provide as a whole 85 in total.
21:26But the third three parks of that project will be concluded and they will provide 15 more.
21:32So we are talking before March end, we will be incorporating more than 100 MW to the national electric system
21:40with renewable sources.
21:45So we established a group of differentiated treatment that stimulates the investment in homes of renewable energies and also for
22:01the state sector as well, both in residential and in the projects of businesses.
22:12And these actions, these measures that have been taken, have three main aspects.
22:21The first one is taxes.
22:24So we excluded from tax payment all these imports.
22:29Also it's using a preferential tariff of payment for the national electrical system of these people, of the people that
22:39have this installed to all, if they can provide or someone that makes an investment to generate energy for the
22:48national electrical system.
22:49And the other one is a group of taxes that take a differentiated treatment for those that provide, those that
22:57install, those that provide service to these renewable sources.
23:02Well, in a first census that is still not complete, that we are going to update every day, there are
23:08over 2,247 private entities.
23:11We are talking about private businesses that have renewable sources to develop their activity.
23:18There are over 900 state companies that have solar power to carry out its activities.
23:28There are over 6,700 houses connected to the national electrical system through solar power.
23:39There's 636 power stations, solar power stations for communities.
23:50Also, there are hundreds that are being used for agriculture and investments are also being made in hydroelectric power and
24:01air power.
24:03During the year we will have, in Las Tunas, we will be recovering air generation in the different parks there.
24:11In the parks of Jibara and also we will be connecting new hydroelectric plants.
24:19In the area of transportation, of electric transportation, now we are encouraging transportation through electric powers.
24:31Well, there are over 2,000 electric vehicles in the country.
24:34There are over 21,000 electric motorbikes, many of which are private.
24:45Many have put their bikes at the disposition of government authorities to provide service to the population.
24:52There are several charge stations for these vehicles.
25:03And these parks do not connect to the national electrical systems, but they have the capacity to connect directly to
25:11solar power generation.
25:12Therefore, it's not an extra charge for the national system.
25:19Yes, the first minister.
25:21Well, I want to explain that with us, we also have different members of the political bureau.
25:26The first minister, Prime Minister Marrero, members of the political bureau, Ojeda, our ministers of the armed forces, Interior Ministry,
25:37our foreign minister, and also a group of colleagues,
25:40vice ministers, and members of the executive, that several of the colleagues that will give explanation, giving following up to
25:52all these issues next week, along with another group of ministers.
25:57Marrero, yesterday, shared an information I would not give completely.
26:06There's been an investment in 400 electric vehicles, which will be arriving in the coming days, that we will dedicate
26:16it for the transportation of hemodialysis patients across the country.
26:21So, we will be making sovereign, a vital service as it is the hemodialysis patients away from fossil fuels.
26:35Of course, these vehicles, these electric vehicles that will be used for those services will have also time available to
26:42help as well in other health services.
26:44Now that I speak of these things that also have to do with the sensibility of the management of government
26:50on the issues of the people.
26:51What a weird dictatorship we are, that amid this situation, we are concerned that the hemodialysis patients have a solution,
27:00have basic services, that the population has basic services.
27:07We are also going to incorporate 350 electric vehicles, and minibuses for the transport of passengers.
27:19You know that in this month, we have been incorporating these means of transportation across provinces.
27:24I want to highlight something.
27:28These are equipment that the components are both abroad, but are assembled here in the country, so it also helps
27:37the development of an industry.
27:39I will be incorporating more components of national production in the coming month, and this opens more possibilities.
27:47We have Cuban designs, the military industries, supporting this, and also the industry ministry.
27:58So summarizing, without boring you with the details, with more details, we can confirm that we're working on different fronts
28:06to face the situation, the energy situation, to give solution.
28:15That they all require financial investment that we must do amid this complexity.
28:21So we must be assessing what comes in, where do we put it, in what dimension.
28:27But as we have explained, if we speak what we have done in that month, it shows that we have
28:34been working quickly and with priority.
28:39And the situation is complex, it will not solve quickly, but it will be solved with the passing of time.
28:48And we have not renounced at any moment our sovereign demand to have oil supply.
28:55Right now we need, we need fuel, we need oil to provide more vitality to all the processes of national
29:01life.
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