The State Electric Union (UNE) reported this Wednesday the total disconnection of the National Electric System (SEN) due to the scourge of hurricane ‘Rafael’, category 3 (out of 5) on the Saffir-Simpson scale.
“Breaking news. 2:48 p.m. Strong winds caused by high-intensity Hurricane Rafael are causing the national electricity system to be disconnected. Emergency protocols are being applied,” UNE wrote on social media.
This Rafael expected to make landfall in western Cuba soonwhich has rapidly strengthened in recent hours. The Institute of Meteorology (Insmet) warned of maximum sustained winds of 185 kilometers per hour and rainfall of up to 200 millimeters (or liters per square meter).
The cyclone will cross western Cuba from south to north in two to three hours, at a speed of just over 20 kilometers per hour, and is expected to cause serious damage to homes, crops and public infrastructure.
Cuban authorities have repeatedly warned in recent days of the arrival of “Rafael”, the second hurricane to make landfall in the country during the current hurricane season. Before the flood forecastseveral tens of thousands of Cubans were evacuated.
This is the third time that a total disconnection from the Cuban SEN has occurred in just two years and the second recorded in the last three weeks.
In September 2022, the passage of Hurricane “Ian”, also category three, through the western end of the island caused the first total drop in SEN in Cuba.
On October 18 this year, the SEN recorded another event of “zero national energy coverage” after the breakdown of the Antonio Guiteras thermoelectric plant, a key infrastructure of the country, which unbalanced the system.
The Cuban SEN finds itself in a very precarious situation due to the lack of fuel – a consequence of the lack of foreign currencies to import it – and the repeated breakdowns of the country’s obsolete thermoelectric plants, with more than 40 years of operation and a chronic deficit investment and maintenance.
This Wednesday, the UNE already predicted a high energy deficit throughout the day, which at the time of greatest demand, in the afternoon, was expected to force 46% of the country to go offline.
The public company, dependent on the Ministry of Energy and Mines (Mined), admitted that nine of the 20 electricity production units of its thermoelectric plants were disconnected due to breakdowns or maintenance. In addition, 78 engines and factories were shut down due to lack of diesel and fuel oil.
Frequent power outages are slowing the economy – which has already contracted by 1.9% in 2023 – and fueling social discontent, visible in the massive migration of recent years and in the unusual protests recorded since 2021 in the country.
