Cuba has announced that it successfully restored its electrical grid and is in the process of recovering power after a partial breakdown on Wednesday plunged Havana and large parts of western Cuba into darkness. This incident is part of an ongoing energy crisis that has caused widespread blackouts lasting for extended periods, affecting millions of people.
Key energy authorities disclosed that a major transmission line linking Havana to the largest power station in Matanzas malfunctioned around 5 a.m. ET. However, by midday, workers had managed to reinstate power to approximately 40% of the capital city. Additionally, four western provinces from Pinar del Rio to Mayabeque experienced power loss early that same day, but were swiftly reconnected to the grid within a few hours.
Even before this recent outage, Cuba had been grappling with daily blackouts lasting up to 20 hours. Havana, previously shielded from severe outages, now confronts regular power cuts lasting over 10 hours daily. Authorities cautioned that despite repairing transmission lines, a significant generation deficit, amounting to around two-thirds of the demand, would persist, leading to continued blackouts.
The coastline of Havana was dim before dawn, with only select hotels and medical facilities illuminated by generators. Cell service was sporadic, and street lights remained off. The country’s oil-fired power plants, already outdated and struggling to function, faced a severe crisis last year due to diminishing oil imports from Venezuela, Russia, and Mexico.
Cuba’s energy grid has experienced multiple collapses, with the government attributing the worsening power shortages to fuel scarcities, dilapidated infrastructure, and damage from Hurricane Melissa. Prolonged U.S. sanctions and a deep economic downturn have hindered the government’s ability to procure adequate fuel, necessitating reliance on foreign partners. Notably, crude and fuel imports in the initial ten months of this year dropped by over a third compared to the previous year, as Mexico and Venezuela curtailed supplies.
The situation underscores the challenges faced by Cuba in maintaining a stable power supply amidst a complex blend of internal and external factors impacting its energy infrastructure.