US Elections (& Politics) :)

CanCuba said:
Oh, I should mention that the island's national grid has about 4MW generating capacity. Demand in the summer usually peaks around 3500MW giving a fair bit of leeway for lack of generating capacity for X, Y and Z reasons.

Demand right now is about 3300MW (unusally warm for March) and generating capacity is about 2100MW. A HUGE deficit of 1200MW. And when you consider that said deficit is over 1/3 of demand for the summer....well, doesn't look good.

So the government has recently stated that they're investing heavily in solar. To the tune of 2GW of solar parks by 2028, the first 1GW being finished (so they say) in 2025. But the calculations I've seen show that 1 watt of solar generation costs about $1 USD. So that's $2 BILLION USD for what they plan to invest. And it's anyone's guess where that money is going to come from.

Of course, that's just generation, not storage of said solar-generated electricity. Which is insanely expensive on that scale. So more solar generation during the day and then fossil fuel generation after the sun goes down? I'm sure someone will figure it out.

I'm planning on going full solar with at least 15MW battery storage for my place.
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I'm interested in understanding this but the measurements don't make sense.

1. 4MW generating capacity vs. 3500MW demand. Is it perhaps 4GW generating capacity?
2. A 15MW battery? That's not a measure of battery capacity, and if was as simple as you meant MWh, that would be absurdly large, so I'm totally perplexed here. 15KWh is a pretty reasonable size for a residence.

For me it would be easier to comprehend if you kept all the power numbers in MW or GW instead of switching. And here's a tip: If the solar panels don't solve everything, fill the whole island up with wind turbines. They're even more reliable and consistent than solar panels :lol::rofl::lol:.
 
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tigerwillow1 said:
I'm interested in understanding this but the measurements don't make sense.

1. 4MW generating capacity vs. 3500MW demand. Is it perhaps 4GW generating capacity?
2. A 15MW battery? That's not a measure of battery capacity, and if was as simple as you meant MWh, that would be absurdly large, so I'm totally perplexed here. 15KWh is a pretty reasonable size for a residence.

For me it would be easier to comprehend if you kept all the power numbers in MW or GW instead of switching. And here's a tip: If the solar panels don't solve everything, fill the whole island up with wind turbines. They're even more reliable and consistent than solar panels :lol::rofl::lol:.
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Yes, thank you for pointing all that out.

1) Yes, 4GW generating capacity. We'd be in big trouble if it was only 4MW! lol
2) Yes, 15Kwh battery. And an excess of panels.

The only time we lost power for more than a couple hours was during the hurricane (name escapes me) in late September 2022. Our place was without power for almost 5 days. Because there are a lot of large trees that they stopped trimming annually during the pandemic, we were one of the last areas. So it's easy to load-shed non-critical stuff (ACs, etc) to conserve the battery. Since it's cloudy for a day or two after a hurricane, the excess number of panels would make up for the less than optimal charging.

It's just a matter of dealing with the idea of spending thousands on batteries that may very well burn my house down in the end.
 
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Parley said:
Cuba 'on verge of total collapse' as country hit by blackouts and runs out of food and power

The crisis in Cuba has seen its government approach the United Nations for aid to address its food shortage, as residents take to the streets in a rare sign of social unrest

Cuba is "on the verge of total collapse" as the country has been hit by blackouts with residents taking to the streets calling for "food and power".

The crisis has seen the Cuban government approach the United Nations for aid to address its food shortage. As the Caribbean island goes through its harshest economic crisis in three decades, the communist regime is resorting to hitherto unseen cries for help to other countries.

The country has been hit by US restrictions, a weak tourism industry, and a decaying domestic product which has left the proud independent nation on it's knees. In an article for Bloomberg, author Juan Pablo Spinetto writes that the situation has brought about a rare display of social unrest.

He adds that last time it happened, in July 2021, the regime contained it with crushing force.

Spinetto writes that the economic situation is a huge challenge for the Communist Party of Cuba that has controlled the nation’s life since Fidel Castro’s revolution in 1959.

He says that despite the archaic embargo posted on the nation by the US during the Cold War, it is not responsible for the food shortage, since Cuba has been able to import more than $7 billion worth of agricultural produce since 2001.

Spinetto adds that the embargo is also not responsible for the departure of 5% of Cuba's population (more than half a million residents) between 2021 and 2023. He says: "These are young, educated Cubans escaping hunger, economic mismanagement and political repression."

Spinetto writes that the crisis can’t be fixed "without fundamentally changing the country’s centralized, state-controlled model where bureaucrats...

Cuba 'on verge of total collapse' as country hit by blackouts and runs out of food and power - Daily Star

My Comment: Maybe our member who lives in Havana can give us some inside scoop on this?
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BUT THAT'S NOT REAL COMMUNISM/SOCIALISM!!! DERRRRRRRP. :banghead:
 
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Here's a relatively recent article detailing power generation in Cuba. I remember the government making a big stink about Block 2 at Felton being finished some big maintenance plan. And then, in front of the national press, they fire it up and it burnt to the ground. That was around August 2022. Still haven't finished rebuilding it.

www.powermag.com

Thermal Power Plants in Cuba Struggle to Meet Demand

Since 2021, Cuba has been going through a complex situation in its national electrical system. Blackouts have been increasing, with higher incidence in recent months. Although projections predicted an
www.powermag.com www.powermag.com
 
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Cancuba, Acknowledging horrible thread drift I'd like to compare PV system notes. I have a 10+ year old Outback system. At that time lead acid batteries were the way to go. I started out with 5 KWh of AGMS, later upgraded to 10 KWh. Of course with the 50% discharge limit 10 KWh is really 5 KWh. The AGMs are getting weak and I bought 21 KWh of LiFePO4. My inverter and charge controller don;'t play real well with them but I found by shutting off all of the automatic charging features it's working out reasonably well.
 
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Selective prosecution has been going on in this country since day one unless you believe the legal establishment treats everyone equally. Going into a bank and misrepresenting your assets to borrow money is a crime across the country. That a real estate guy from Queens has suckered so many is laughably sad.
 
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Can you point to even 1 case where the person borrowing $ and paid it back on time, with interest as agreed upon, with a lender who was happy with the transaction, was prosecuted?

That a DEI AG can decide that Mar-a-Lago is worth less than adjoining properties by a factor of 10 is laughably sad

That a dementia patient who cant find his way off the stage and has an odd affinity for underage children is actually in charge of the nuclear codes is laughably sad

That political prosecutions are now common place with the current administration, is laughably sad

That some people actually want to live in a country under socialism, promote "diversity" over competence, allow men to use little girls bathrooms and encourage our military to dress in drag, is laughably sad
 
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