Total blackout in Cuba after collapse of the electrical system

The Ministry of Energy and Mines (Minem) acknowledged on Thursday that there is currently “zero national energy coverage” across the island , a total blackout , following the complete collapse of the system due to a breakdown at a key thermal power plant.

The Director General of Electricity, Lázaro Guerra, made these statements in an appearance on state television after the Minem previously announced on social media that the “total disconnection” of the National Electric System (SEN) had occurred.

Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel said that “the country’s leadership” is devoting “absolute priority to addressing and solving this energy contingency of high sensitivity for the nation” and stressed that “there will be no rest” until the flow of electricity is reestablished in the country.

According to Minem, the system collapsed due to a problem at the Guiteras thermoelectric plant, one of the largest in the country, which forced technicians to take it out of the system. This infrastructure, UNE itself reported on Thursday, already needed maintenance for several days after being operational all summer (and having been in operation for more than four decades).

A similar “zero output” situation occurred in September 2022 after Category 3 Hurricane Ian hit the western end of the island. This caused a major disruption and left the entire country in the dark. Recovery took days.

Cuba is immersed in a serious energy crisis due to a shortage of fuel – the result of a lack of foreign currency to import it – for its engines and generating plants, and the obsolescence of its seven thermoelectric plants, which were Soviet-made and lack investment and maintenance.

This is the second highest percentage of affected people expected so far this year, after the maximum of nearly 51% was recorded on Thursday. Rates of over 40% were already recorded at the beginning of the year.

Cuban Prime Minister Manuel Marrero made an unusual appearance on television on Thursday to discuss the current “national emergency” and announced measures such as halting all non-essential state work, such as hospitals and food production centers.

Frequent power outages are damaging the Cuban economy – which shrank by 1.9% in 2023 and is still below 2019 levels – and are fuelling social discontent in a society affected by the economic crisis that has worsened in recent years.

The frequent blackouts have also been a catalyst for the latest anti-government protests of some magnitude on the island, including those of July 11, 2021 – the largest in decades – and those of March 17 in Santiago de Cuba (east) and other localities.