Cuba has restored power to nearly half of the capital of Havana by Sunday afternoon, according to officials, less than 24 hours after a nationwide blackout for the second time in a week, amidst a U.S. oil blockade that dealt a major blow to the island’s already struggling energy infrastructure.
The grid failed on Saturday evening after a major power plant in Nuevitas, in eastern Cuba’s Camaguey province, went offline, grid operator UNE said. This caused a cascade effect that knocked out power to approximately 10 million people.
National Grid Not At Full-Power
Nearly 500,000 homes and businesses in Havana—around 55% of the total—as well as 43 hospitals, were back online by Sunday afternoon, UNE stated.
UNE was also preparing to fire up the country’s largest oil-fired power plant and expected it to be running by the day’s end, sharply boosting generation.
Despite ongoing blackouts, life in Havana carried on as per normal, with disruptions in power now becoming a regular part of the daily routine even when the national grid is operational.
Outlying provinces also reported a gradual restoration of power, though a dramatic shortage in diesel fuel means only a portion of the grid’s capacity is available for generation, and many areas will continue to see lengthy blackouts despite restoration efforts, according to officials.
Cellular and internet services remained spotty countrywide, but had seen improvements in areas by the afternoon.
Third Major Power Outage In A Month
Cuba’s electrical grid has been teetering on the edge of collapse for months, with hours-long, sometimes even day-long, blackouts becoming a norm.
But Saturday’s grid failure marks the third major power outage this month, as the majority of the system was down on March 4, when a key thermoelectric generating plant suddenly stopped running. The power grid also went completely offline on Monday, for unexplained reasons. While Cuba has had a series of total outages in recent years, two nationwide blackouts in the space of a week is unprecedented.
Many Cubans have been keeping close track of two tanker ships in the Atlantic with Russian-origin fuel cargoes in hopes that they could provide some relief amid the U.S. blockade. However, at least one Hong Kong-flagged vessel, Sea Horse, appears to have diverted away from Cuba earlier this week.
U.S. President Donald Trump began taking measures to block oil from reaching the Caribbean island after Washington deposed Venezuelan President Nicolas Maduro on January 3. Venezuela had previously provided oil to its close ally on favourable terms.
Since then, Trump has cut off Venezuelan exports to Cuba and threatened other countries with punitive tariffs if they sell oil to the island.
(With inputs from Reuters)