Cuba is starting to gradually recover electricity in some regions after the major power outage which affected the whole country this Friday.
Four areas of Havana They already have electricity after the start of the recovery process of the National Electroenergetic System (SEN).
In a recent update of the “energy emergency” occurred on the island, the general director of electricity of the Ministry of Energy and Mines (Minem), Lázaro Guerra, explained that the process of restoring microsystems continues throughout the island to bring energy energy to thermoelectric power stations.
The specialist indicated that they would work throughout the night and until the early hours of Saturday to manage to start the available production units and gradually restore the interconnection of the SEN in the central-west and eastern areas of the island, although with a “limited power”.
The SEN collapsed this Friday because of a breakdown at the Guiteras thermoelectric plantone of the main producers in the country, according to the public company Unión Eléctrica (UNE), dependent on the Ministry of Energy and Mines.
The President of Cuba, Miguel Díaz-Caneldeclared for his part during a meeting to analyze the energy crisis situation that “there will be no rest” until electricity service is restored to the island and stressed that the situation is “tense” and complex”, according to state television.
The president stressed that “certain deficit levels will be maintained” and that efforts will be made to reduce this “energy emergency”, the root causes of which are the lack of availability of fuel, foreign exchange for repairs and production capacity of ‘electricity.
This circumstance has led the island’s government to paralyze non-essential state activities since Friday, as part of a series of measures announced the day before to address the current energy crisis.
The energy crisis
The SEN crisis worsened last week with effects reaching their peak this year. with almost 51% of the country with simultaneous power outagesaccording to UNE daily reports.
This means that power outages affected more than half of the island simultaneously and caused outages of up to 20 hours in some provinces.
The Cuban electrical system is in a very precarious state due to frequent breakdowns of generators of its seven thermoelectric power plants, obsolete due to their more than four decades of use and the chronic lack of investment and maintenance, to which are added the deficit of imported fuels (diesel and fuel oil) and the shortage of foreign currencies .
Power outages have been common for several yearsbut since the end of August the situation has worsened to reach levels similar to those of the worst times, such as at the beginning of this year and in July and August 2021 and 2022.
In recent years, the Cuban government has leased several floating power plants to compensate for the lack of generating capacity.
Frequent outages hurt Cuba’s economy – which contracted 1.9% in 2023 and is still below 2019 levels, according to official data – and fuel social discontent in a crisis-hit society economic worsening in recent years.
They also triggered anti-government demonstrations, notably those of July 11, 2021 – the largest in decades – and those of March 17 in Santiago de Cuba (east) and other localities.
