Today, Cuban advice in Venezuela enables the “La Mariposa” electrical transformer recovery plant to stabilize operations and proudly display a savings of millions of dollars from import substitution.
Alexis Iván Landeiro Ferro, Cuban head of the factory, explained to Cubadebate that at first the Venezuelan technicians and engineers were trained, who later joined the project, aware of the importance of the task.
Currently , more than 8,000 electrical transformers and their components have been rescued, with savings in foreign currency of around 2,000 dollars for each unit in the international market.
“The plant had been paralyzed for 7 years and today it has state-of-the-art technology and equipment, we even asked Cuba to increase the number of our specialists here, to intensify a work that is already stabilizing and exhibiting achievements,” explains Landeiro Ferro and then he adds: “Do not forget that Venezuela is also subject to the criminal US blockade.”
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Since import substitution is of vital importance for the government headed by President Nicolás Maduro, the timely arrival of raw materials has remained constant and today about 120 units are returned to the national electricity system every month.
“La mariposa” receives damaged transformers from all over Venezuela through the management carried out by the Corporación Eléctrica Nacional SA (CORPOELEC). Once in the factory, these are diagnosed, repaired and finally checked in accordance with the most rigorous standards on the market , thanks to a modern laboratory enabled for such purposes.
“The social impact of the work we do is very great. By reinserting the recovered transformers into the system, we have returned electricity service to thousands of people and created jobs. The savings are general, whether due to freight or import, ”he says.
In less than a week the entire recovery process is completed and when it is reinstalled with the necessary technical conditions; you get a distribution transformer enabled for another 15, or 20 years of useful life again.
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The 10 workers that the plant owns are busy repairing and painting the chassis, rolling (either low or high) the core, among other actions. For this they use materials that have a low cost in the international market such as diamond paper, electro-cardboard and circular copper wire.
In order to certify the reliability and efficiency of the recovered product, it is subjected to a “destructive” voltage that exceeds 34,000 volts; only if it passes the test is it returned to the national electricity grid and becomes operational.
These devices are based on the phenomenon of electromagnetic induction and are capable of converting alternating electrical energy of a certain voltage level into alternating energy of another voltage level.
The Cuban technical consultancy in “La Mariposa” includes reels, assemblers and trained personnel who are committed to cooperation between sister nations.
Featured image:Â The plant receives damaged transformers from all over Venezuela and then restores their useful life. Photo: Yosdany MorejĂłn.
(Cubadebate) by Yosdany Morejon Ortega
Translated by Walter Lippmann for CubaNews.
