Castro Announces Overhaul of Electric Grid

AP on Yahoo ^ | 1/18/06 | Anita Snow - ap

[NormsRevenge]

HAVANA - President Fidel Castro announced a long-awaited renovation of Cuba's energy system to combat blackouts that have afflicted the island nation for the past two summers.

Castro said Cuba would decentralize its power system, gradually replacing five massive thermoelectric plants with smaller, regional plants supplemented by solar and wind power. He outlined the plan in a speech delivered Tuesday night and published Wednesday in state newspapers.

Because the thermoelectrical plants in Cuba are so large, mechanical difficulties in any one can affect large areas populated by millions of people. Many of last summer's blackouts were caused by problems at Antonio Guiteras, a key thermoelectrical plant serving Havana's 2 million inhabitants and neighboring cities.

In the wake of the problems that caused severe blackouts across the island beginning in 2004, "new ideas about the development of a more efficient and secure national electrical system have been put into practice," Castro said.

He said Cuba had ordered more than 4,000 diesel and oil generators and more than 3,000 had already been delivered.

Generators have been installed to maintain power during emergencies at critical sites such as hospitals, schools, meteorological stations and tourist hotels, Castro said.

Blackouts occur in Cuba year-round, but they increase during the hot summer months when electricity use spikes. Problems in the electrical grid are compounded in the late summer and fall when hurricanes batter the island with high winds and heavy rainfall, causing additional damage to the antiquated infrastructure and often knocking out power in some regions for days.

Last summer, Cubans sweltered during frequent blackouts that kept them from operating fans and water pumps when the heat topped 90 degrees.

In many homes, milk and other refrigerated food spoiled, and power surges damaged refrigerators, televisions and other appliances difficult to replace on meager Cuban salaries.

Castro has promised Cubans since early 2005 that a major overhaul of the electrical grid was being planned.

The plan also calls for replacing old electrical cables and for conducting government studies on ways to make better use of solar and wind energy, Castro said.

The president detailed the proposal in a more than two-hour speech to electrical workers and Communist Party faithful in the western province of Pinar del Rio.

[NormsRevenge]

In this photo made available by the Cuban Government's National Information Agency (AIN), Cuban President Fidel Castro announces a major renovation of Cuba's national energy system, outlining plans to decentralize the island's electrical grid , in Pinar del Rio, west of Havana, Cuba, Tuesday, Jan. 17, 2006. Castro said the island's half-dozen mega thermoelectrical plants gradually would be replaced with smaller more localized plants, with gaps to be filled with solar and wind power. (AP/Photo Ismael Francisco/AIN, HO)

[NormsRevenge]

Cuban President Fidel Castro (bottom R) sits amidst the audience during an event in Pinar del Rio, Cuba January 17, 2006. President Castro unveiled a network of small power generators in Pinar del Rio province on Tuesday, the first step in a vast plan to overhaul Cuba's inadequate electricity system and end chronic outages. The new strategy is part of an ambitious plan that also calls for replacing millions of inefficient electric stoves, refrigerators and other household appliances, some of them made in the United States and in use since before Castro's 1959 revolution. REUTERS/Ismael Francisco/AIN/Handout

[appleharvey]

What a shame! I heard that nine of the ten hamsters running the generator wheel starved to death.

[daviddennis]

Is this anything like his miniature cattle initiative?

I don't know about you, but it sounds almost California-style in its faddishness.

Is this how he's spending Hugo Chavez' money?

D

[dufekin]

Why don't we just replace the communist terrorist totalitarian tyrant with a popularly elected capitalist pro-American freedom-loving governor instead? Everything else then would fix itself rather quickly.

[SpaceBar]

Higher quality extension cords will be used.

[aumrl]

What are their "massive thermoelectrical plants"?

[Just mythoughts]

Maybe Russia will provide them with nuclear.

[popdonnelly]

So Cubans should stock up on candles.

[denydenydeny]

In the wake of the problems that caused severe blackouts across the island beginning in 2004,

I bet I can name what Problem # 1 is.

[The Cuban]

What he is going to start supplying electricity?

[CrazyIvan]

"Castro Announces Overhaul of Electric Grid"

Until I read the article I assumed that this was a device used on political prisoners.

[Snickersnee]

What are their "massive thermoelectrical plants"?

I'm sure they burn black stuff that comes out of the ground. Both solid and liquid forms.

[Last Dakotan]

ome of them made in the United States and in use since before Castro's 1959 revolution

Imagine that, things so old that they were made in the United States.

[Dog Gone]

I'm sure it's Chavez's money. Unless it's drug money.

Let him spend it on this. It only digs his hole deeper.

[Wally_Kalbacken]

 

Doh!

[NormsRevenge]

Onbviously , he tripped over an extension cord. ;-)

[JOE6PAK]

He couldn't announce the overhaul of a '58 Ford.

[Nateman]

If you really want power for the Cubans run about 100 amps through Castro.

[Rodm]

Oh Boy, 2 light bulbs for every cuban shack!