Cuba Power Outage: National Electrical Grid Collapses Leaving Millions Of People In Darkness Again- Know Why Is It Happening

Cuba has started efforts to restore power across the island after a collapse of the national electrical grid, which highlights the severe state of the country’s power generation system. This blackout is part of a series of ongoing nationwide power failures.

Energy Minister Vicente de la O’Levy reported that the government was prioritizing the restoration of power to hospitals and water pumping stations as part of the recovery process. Despite these efforts, millions of Cubans were still without electricity by midmorning. In response, the government ordered schools to close and non-essential workers to stay at home until power was fully restored.

While the energy minister expressed hope that the grid would be back online by Thursday, he emphasized the need for a careful, step-by-step restoration. “We have very capable specialists and they are all involved,” said de la O’Levy, indicating that the process would not be rushed.

Crisis Due to Aging Infrastructure and Fuel Shortages

Cuba’s electrical grid has become increasingly unstable due to a combination of fuel shortages, natural disasters, and economic challenges. The country’s aging, oil-powered plants have struggled to meet demand, exacerbated by a reduction in oil imports from Venezuela, Russia, and Mexico. These issues have led to frequent blackouts, with the situation worsening over the past two months.

The blackout that occurred on Wednesday morning was triggered by a failure at the Antonio Guiteras power plant in Matanzas, Cuba’s primary electricity producer.

The plant shut down around 2 a.m. local time, and several other major power plants were offline due to maintenance, leaving the grid without sufficient power and causing a nationwide outage.

Before the grid collapse, Cubans were already enduring daily rolling blackouts. Havana resident Danielis Mora, a hotel worker, expressed frustration over the lack of power, noting that without electricity, cooking becomes impossible, forcing people to rely on firewood or charcoal. The city of Havana was left almost completely in the dark, with floating power plants from Turkey’s Karpowership temporarily supplying electricity to essential services, such as hospitals, and some residents.

Ongoing Crisis and Public Discontent

The grid failure is just the latest in a series of electrical system breakdowns that began in October, worsened by fuel shortages and the impacts of Hurricanes Oscar and Rafael. Protests over power failures, as well as shortages of water, food, and gas, have been growing in Cuba in recent months.

In response to the energy crisis, the Cuban government issued a decree requiring both state and private businesses to generate more of their own electricity using renewable energy. The new regulations also include restrictions on air conditioning use to help manage the island’s energy consumption amid the ongoing shortage.