factor?
Plz add this *nit*, to pic
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| Caribbean-Latin America |
| Castro's generator power play aims to beat heat |
| 2006-04-05 |
| El Jefe: The Thomas Edison of Cuba... HAVANA (Reuters) - Cuba is racing to install thousands of container-sized diesel generators across the island to avoid another situation like the one last summer when widespread blackouts fanned popular unrest. President Fidel Castro has taken personal responsibility for what he calls an "energy revolution" prompted by widespread complaints about the failings of Cuba's obsolete power plants. That's if it works. If it doesn't, I'm sure Fidel has a list. His supporters say the first-of-its-kind energy plan is a stroke of audacious genius. His critics see it as a desperate blunder.The generators are being grouped in clusters and connected to the electrical grid so they can feed the national system or operate independently in all 14 provinces. "The unit consists of 32 generators in eight groups ... capable of generating 60.4 megawatts," state-run news agency AIN said of one cluster in eastern Holguin province. The one- to two-megawatt generators, each capable of powering a whole neighborhood, are also being installed at key facilities around the Caribbean island, such as hospitals and factories. Around $800 million has been spent so far to import generators, mainly from Spain, Germany and South Korea. Castro has promised to put an end to the frequent outages that Cubans have had to live with since the collapse of Soviet communism plunged their country into economic crisis. He has also vowed to provide every Cuban home with new electrical appliances from China that use less power, from stoves and fans to refrigerators, in many cases replacing inefficient U.S.-made products dating back to the 1950s. Cuba's communist-run state is also replacing millions of incandescent light bulbs with energy-saving fluorescent ones. Castro says his "energy revolution" will pay for itself by saving Cuba at least $1 billion a year in generating costs. Part of the cost will be borne by Cubans who for decades have enjoyed heavily subsidized electricity. Rates were jacked up last year, rising steeply for homes that use more power. POWER GRID A MESS Blackouts have wreaked havoc on the daily life of Cubans and the economy since the demise of the Soviet Union deprived their country of generous oil shipments. Now Cuba is receiving ample oil with preferential financing from Venezuela, but the electrical grid itself is a shambles. The island's seven aging oil-fired power plants can generate about 2,700 megawatts, but operate at only 60 percent of capacity due to breakdowns and maintenance halts. For over a decade, the plants have run on locally produced high-sulfur oil that clogs and damages the equipment. Helluva polluter too as I remember... The entire system nears collapse when a hurricane strikes transmission lines or two or more plants go out of service at the same time. It can barely cover national consumption in peak periods when Cubans turn on fans and air conditioners. With outages of 12 hours and longer last summer, Cubans were having trouble keeping cool in the tropical heat, while food rotted in their refrigerators. In crowded Central Havana, public discontent emerged as small street protests. The government scrambled to find a quick solution. By May, according to Castro, hundreds of generators will have added the equivalent of three 350-megawatt power plants that would cost $1.7 billion and take six years to build. More will be added until Cuba can phase out its oil-burning power plants, while keeping two newer gas-fired ones. LOGISTICS NIGHTMARE Cuba is spending a further $250 million to replace old transmission lines, transformers and breakers so the grid can handle increased demand as Cubans still cooking with kerosene and wood fires go electric. Since the generators began to arrive, blackouts have all but disappeared. But the real test will come with the hot summer months when demand peaks. Cubans give the energy plan mixed reviews. "Those of us who support the revolution support the plan; those who do not, as always, think it is crazy," a Communist Party militant said. "There is no doubt it is an ingenious, though expensive, way for them to quickly solve their immediate problems," a Western diplomat said. "The question we all have is what will happen in a few years. Generators have never been used as the basis of a power system before, anywhere," he said. Cuban officials brush off such concerns and insist the strategy has been well thought out. El Jefe knows best... But foreign electrical engineers say it is a recipe for a logistics nightmare as thousands of generators will have to be constantly supplied with diesel and their engines serviced. Logistics issues in a Communist country? I believe we've seen how that usually works out. Cuba would have been better off in the long run building generating plants, an Italian engineer said. Still, Castro insists the plan will help Cuba cope with the impact of hurricanes by making each part of the country independent of the national grid. It will also strengthen Cuba's defenses, he said, recalling the U.S. invasion of Iraq. "Our entire power grid could have been knocked out with just seven bombs." There's a "fun fact" to remember... |
| Posted by:tu3031 |
| #9 RD - A much better solution. Everybody there has a bike. Very Good!! |
| Posted by: 3dc 2006-04-05 21:49 |
| #8 3dc, *ahem* Wind Generator factor? Plz add this *nit*, to pic |
| Posted by: RD 2006-04-05 20:14 |
| #7 High-sulfur oil and hundreds of maintenance-intensive engines. If Castro is lucky, he will die before those generators make his "energy revolution" a fiasco, but I'm betting that he will last longer then they do, even with his advanced Parkinson's and age. |
| Posted by: Darrell 2006-04-05 16:31 |
| #6 It's not Godzilla like, it's just a giant unregulated housebot. |
| Posted by: 6 2006-04-05 15:50 |
| #5 3dc, oh yes he has! He wants to make it more difficult for the Godzilla-like monster to destroy everything! |
| Posted by: Desert Blondie 2006-04-05 13:16 |
| #4 No, they applauded it as being an effective way to outsmart any Bush military attack on the regime. Sigh. |
| Posted by: lotp 2006-04-05 12:54 |
| #3 Wait a minute....they didn't blame this on Bush!! Reuters is definitely slipping here. Isn't this all the fault of our evil embargo?? |
| Posted by: AlanC 2006-04-05 12:53 |
| #2 Obviously, nobody in power in Cuba has ever played SimCity. |
| Posted by: 3dc 2006-04-05 11:42 |
| #1 1) A bad time to switch to fluorescent. LEDs are just around the corner and would really make a dent in power usage. 2) These generators will pollute the air in the local neighborhoods. 3) If connected to the grid... when the grid goes down - surges might just take the generators down too. 4) If he wanted to do local in the neighborhood stuff - solar, and wind would make more sense and not require fuel and little service. 1,2 and 5 MW wind generators are common sizes. That is the same as these units. You would just need to secure them in hurricanes. 2MW GE Wind Generator installed on a site in the US is about $5mil so.. $800mil/$5mil = 160 2MW WindGenerators 160 * 2MW = 320MW That is 320 peak MW compared to the 60MW he just bought. A real bad deal. 320MW/60MW = a factor of 5.3 So if 1/5th of the wind generators had wind and were working that would equal 100% power from his 32 generators. That's a bad deal! 5) Some of the 50's era stuff was quite energy efficent. Look at a 50s coke or pepsi machine. They just sipped power. Lots of the cheap stuff from China is NOT very energy efficent. Look at the ratings some time. |
| Posted by: 3dc 2006-04-05 11:41 |