Spanish
Cuba will have blackouts throughout the day that will simultaneously affect 47% of the country during the afternoon-evening, when energy demand increases, the state-owned company Unión Eléctrica (UNE) reported this Wednesday.
The energy crisis, aggravated since the middle of last year, has among its main causes the frequent breakdowns in thermal power plants with years of accumulated exploitation, as well as the lack of fuel and foreign currency to import it, according to the Cuban government.
The cuts reach 20 hours a day in large regions of the country and in Havana they are between four or five hours. In recent months, four national blackouts have been recorded, from which the country has taken days to recover.
The UNE, attached to the Ministry of Energy and Mines, foresees for the peak hours in the evening a maximum electrical generation capacity of 2,080 megawatts (MW) for a demand of 3,800 MW.
This represents a deficit (the difference between supply and demand) of 1,720 MW and an impact (what is actually disconnected to avoid disorderly blackouts) of 1,790 MW. It is common for the actual values to exceed the official forecast.
Currently, six of the 20 thermoelectric production units (distributed across seven plants) are out of service due to breakdowns or maintenance. In addition, 58 distributed generation plants (engines) are out of service due to lack of fuel (diesel and fuel oil) or oil.
Independent experts point out that the energy crisis is due to chronic underfunding of this sector, completely in the hands of the Cuban State since the triumph of the revolution in 1959. The Cuban government highlights the impact of US sanctions on this sector.
Various independent calculations estimate that the Government would need between 8,000 and 10,000 million dollars to bail out the electrical grid.
Frequent blackouts are hampering the Cuban economy, which contracted by 1.9% in 2023 and did not grow last year, according to government estimates. According to these figures, the island's GDP remains below 2019 levels and will not surpass them in 2025, for which the Executive forecasts a 1% increase.
Power outages have been linked in recent years to the main protests that have been recorded in the country, such as those in July 2021, those in August 2022 in Havana and Nuevitas, or those in Santiago de Cuba and other locations in March 2024.
The minor protests recorded in recent days, in Pinar del Río (west) or Bayamo (east), among others, are mainly linked to blackouts and the scarcity of basic products (food, medicine, fuel), the result of the widespread crisis suffered by the country.
