Power Outage Crisis in Cuba: Key Thermal Units Down and Fuel Shortages Hit Nearly 100 Plants

The energy crisis in Cuba is worsening as the government once again acknowledges an electrical collapse affecting citizens around the clock. This ongoing struggle highlights the regime's inability to provide a basic service that should support households, hospitals, production centers, and schools.

The Cuban Electric Union (UNE) reported continuous blackouts throughout the day on Saturday, underscoring the structural failures of a system that cannot meet the country's energy demands. Official reports indicate that the peak shortage reached 1733 MW at 7:00 p.m., highlighting a gap the system can barely address.

On Sunday morning, the National Electric System (SEN) had a mere 1505 MW available compared to a demand of 2214 MW, leaving 721 MW of consumers without electricity from the early hours. An estimated shortage of 850 MW is expected by midday.

This crisis is exacerbated by the collapse of thermal generation, a crucial component of the system. Five key units are offline, some due to breakdowns and others because of maintenance that seems to drag on indefinitely. The Felton plant's unit 2 and Renté's units 3 and 6 remain out of order, while Santa Cruz (unit 2) and Cienfuegos (unit 4) are under maintenance.

Although the state refers to these as "scheduled interventions," the truth is that a lack of parts, investment, and renewal plans has pushed these plants to operate under extreme conditions until they ultimately fail. However, the most glaring sign of government negligence lies in the distributed generation sector. Ninety-seven plants are down due to fuel shortages, and another 66 MW are unavailable due to a lack of lubricants, totaling 866 MW out of service.

In a nation directing resources towards hotels and major tourist projects, the inability to secure lubricant for essential generators directly reflects state priorities that do not favor the populace. The UNE announced that for peak hours, the Energas Varadero unit 1 would contribute a paltry 30 MW, a negligible amount against the anticipated night demand of 3200 MW.

With this additional output, the forecast for peak hours is a supply of 1535 MW against a maximum demand of 3200 MW, resulting in a staggering deficit of 1665 MW. The expected shortage could hit 1735 MW, nearly the country's average consumption for several daily hours.

Finally, while the UNE highlighted that 32 new photovoltaic solar parks generated 2479 MWh, this figure, presented as a testament to "state investment," barely alleviates the bleak situation.

Havana's Struggles Amid the Crisis

The collapse in Havana, typically prioritized over the rest of the country, further illustrates the chaos. The capital's Electric Company reported outages lasting 10 hours and 41 minutes, with a peak shortage of 164 MW at 7:00 p.m. Service was only restored after 10:50 p.m.

Although the statement claims as a positive that there were no blackouts overnight, this normalization of disaster is emerging as a communication strategy: at least while most are asleep, electricity is available.

The electrical crisis in Cuba is not the result of extraordinary weather phenomena or unexpected events; it is the outcome of decades of neglect, underinvestment, poor state management, and a reliance on oil without a real modernization plan. While the government continues to blame external factors, power plants shut down due to wear, generators stall for lack of fuel, and the people are left in the dark, bearing the brunt of an unsustainable system.