Cuba Faces Severe Electric Grid Crisis Amid Power Outages

Cuba is currently facing a severe electric grid crisis, resulting in prolonged power outages across major provinces, including Havana. According to Havana Times, a disconnection of the national electric grid occurred early Wednesday when a transmission line linking the Santa Cruz thermoelectric plant with the Guiteras plant in Matanzas failed.

This incident left the western half of Cuba, including significant areas like Havana, without electricity. Lazaro Guerra, the general director of Electricity at the Ministry of Energy and Mines, explained that the failure, which caused an overload and subsequent split in the system, halted generation from four of the country's seven thermoelectric plants.

By around 10 a.m., effort began to restore power, with Havana's electric company reporting that only 15.8% of the city had been reconnected by that time. The situation has worsened recently, with blackouts extending as long as 20 hours in some regions, as noted in reports from The Straits Times.

Even before the latest incident, Havana was experiencing significant outages, with many areas facing ten hours or more of darkness daily. The government has attributed these ongoing power failures to a combination of factors, including aging infrastructure, fuel shortages, and the impact of Hurricane Melissa, which affected eastern Cuba a month prior.

The island's oil-fired power plants are struggling to meet demands due to dwindling fuel imports from allies such as Venezuela and Mexico, leading to a generation shortfall. In the first ten months of this year, Cuba's crude and fuel imports reportedly fell more than a third compared to the previous year.

Energy officials have acknowledged that regular blackouts will continue as the generation shortfall currently meets only about two-thirds of demand, even after recent repairs to transmission lines. President Miguel Diaz-Canel has also linked the crisis to external factors, including the U.S. blockade, highlighting the complexity of the situation.

Overall, the electric grid crisis not only disrupts daily life in Cuba, but poses serious challenges to economic stability across the island, leaving millions in the dark and struggling to cope with the ongoing energy crisis.