Cuba underwent a huge power outage on Friday evening affecting Havana and the country’s provinces that left millions in the dark.
The Cuba Ministry of Energy and Mines said that around 8:15 p.m. local time for DiezMero’s under-station on the periphery of Havana had caused “a significant loss of generation in the west of Cuba and, with it, the failure of the national electrical system”.
The ministry declared on its account on X that it “works on the recovery process”.
The streets of Havana were dark and empty, with light coming only from the windows of hotels that had generators.
The inhabitants of the provinces as far as Guantanamo, Artemisa, Santiago de Cuba and Santa Clara said that they had undergone power outages with just sparkles of light.
Earlier, the electrical union, the state agency which regulates the sector, said in its daily report that the peak demand for hours would be around 3,250 megawatts and that the deficit would reach approximately 1,380 megawatts, which means that 42% of the national energy system would be closed. This figure is not the highest in recent memory.
Cuba underwent three breakdowns widespread in his national energy system at the end of last year, leaving the island in the dark in the midst of a serious economic crisis.
Cuba’s electrical network has been prey to frequent breakdowns in recent months, with more than half of the country with power cuts during peak hours. The breakdowns are mainly caused by fuel shortages and aging infrastructure. In many parts of the island, electricity is crucial for cooking and pumping water.
