Entire Cuba without power for fifth time in a year

Another general power outage hit Cuba today, the fifth in less than a year, bringing the economy to a standstill and disrupting the lives of residents.

"There has been a complete blackout of the electrical system that could be related to an unexpected interruption" at the Antonio Guiteras power plant, in the center of the island, the Ministry of Energy and Mining announced on X order, and authorities later explained that the blackout was the result of a false overheating signal in the boiler of the power plant, the largest in the country, which caused its shutdown and the collapse of the entire network.

Prime Minister Manuel Marrero Cruz assured on Platform X that Cuba has a "well-defined strategy" to restore electricity supplies "as soon as possible."

Since October 2024, the island country of 9,7 million people has previously suffered four major power outages, some lasting several days.

On Sunday, five of Cuba's fifteen provinces were without power for several hours.

In addition to large hotels and some hospitals that have generators, more and more families and small private business owners have acquired small diesel-powered electric generators, but it is not easy to find fuel for them.

Of Cuba's eight power plants, almost all date from the 1980s and 1990s. They regularly break down or have to be shut down for long weeks of maintenance.

Two floating power plants leased from a Turkish company and generators that supplement the power grid run on fuel that Cuba has difficulty importing.

The recent installation of thirty photovoltaic farms, supported by China, out of 52 planned for this year, has not yet reduced power outages.

During the summer, when consumption peaks due to high temperatures, power outages have increased. According to authorities, these planned outages across Cuba lasted an average of almost fifteen hours a day in August and sixteen hours in July.

Cuba has been in a deep economic crisis for five years, with a severe shortage of foreign exchange, an outdated electricity system that frequently breaks down and there are shortages of fuel and almost all goods, and inflation is high.

The structural weaknesses of its planned and centralized economy are further contributed by the failure of the recent monetary reform and the tightening of the US embargo in force since 1962.