Commonwealth_ Cuba is grappling with its worst electricity blackout in at least two years, which has left millions of people without power for two consecutive days. The country began to restore some electricity on Saturday, but the island remains far from full recovery. The blackout has severely disrupted daily life, with essential services like water supply also being impacted due to a lack of electricity to run pumps.
On the social media platform X, Energy Minister Vicente de la O Levy expressed optimism by announcing the restoration of 500 megawatts to the country’s electrical grid early Saturday. This is just a fraction of the 3 gigawatts that the nation normally generates to meet its energy needs. De la O Levy also announced the reconnection of several electrical substations in western Cuba to the grid and the resumed operations of two thermoelectric power plants. He assured the public that they expected two more plants to resume operations within a few hours.
Despite this partial restoration, a failure at the Antonio Guiteras power plant, one of the country’s most important facilities, plunged about half of Cuba into darkness on Thursday evening, and the entire island lost power on Friday morning. Earlier on Saturday, Havana’s electricity company announced the disconnection of a portion of the western electrical system due to the failure of one of the power plants serving that area. This caused the total available megawatts to drop from 500 to 370, resulting in ongoing blackouts across parts of the city.
The streets of Havana, home to 2 million people, remained eerily quiet on Saturday, with only a few cars on the roads. The previous night, many neighborhoods were lit by candles and lamps as residents endured the blackout. The disruption has gone beyond just lighting, affecting water supply, transportation, and other key services that rely on electrical power.
The Category 3 hurricane that damaged the island’s power infrastructure caused a previous blackout, which is the worst Cuba has experienced in two years. While the government took several days to repair the damage, and gradually restored power, this year’s blackout may have longer-lasting repercussions. Even before this current crisis, some Cuban households have been experiencing up to eight hours of power outages daily, a reflection of the country’s ongoing economic and energy challenges.
In addition to the Antonio Guiteras plant, Cuba operates several other power plants, though it remains unclear whether these facilities were still operational during the blackout. The situation remains precarious as there is no official estimate for the full restoration of power across the island. Cuba, already accustomed to frequent power cuts due to an economic crisis, has rarely seen an outage on this scale.
To manage the situation, the Cuban government has announced emergency measures to reduce electricity demand. These measures include suspending school and university classes, shutting down certain state-owned businesses, and cancelling nonessential services. Officials reported that during peak hours on Friday, 1.64 gigawatts of electricity demand went unmet, roughly half of the island’s total power consumption at that time.
The current blackout is a stark reminder of the fragility of Cuba’s energy infrastructure and the broader economic difficulties the country faces. While efforts to restore electricity continue, it is uncertain when the island will fully recover from this massive outage, leaving millions of Cubans to cope with the disruption in their daily lives.
