Cuba’s national power grid has failed once again, leaving millions without electricity. The outage took place on Friday night at approximately 8:15 PM (00:15 GMT), after a failure at the Diezmero substation in Havana initiated a cascading failure on the island, according to Union Electrica (UNE) officials.
By Saturday morning, UNE had generated a paltry 225 MW of electricity, which accounted for less than 10 percent of the nation’s total demand. In an attempt to reduce the crisis, authorities stated that parallel circuits existed to provide electricity to vital areas like hospitals.
“Several provinces have parallel circuits, and generator units are beginning to be synchronized with the national grid,” Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel posted on social media platform X.
This recent grid collapse is the first of 2025, following three national blackouts in late 2024, two of them lasting several days. The crisis comes at a time when Cuba already suffers from one of the worst economic crises in three decades, fueled by American sanctions. The island, which has traditionally depended on subsidized oil from Venezuela, is set to suffer as Caracas itself experiences economic instability.
Residents are frustrated and confused. “Nobody knows right now when the electricity will be restored,” said Abel Bonne, a local resident taking advantage of the wind along Havana’s Malecon seawall on Saturday morning.
In Havana, residents have been enduring near-daily power cuts lasting four to five hours, while those in other regions have faced rolling blackouts that have reached up to 20 hours a day in recent weeks. “My God, this is terrible; we’re in for a dark weekend,” lamented Karen Gutierrez, a 32-year-old ice cream vendor.
Andres Lopez, 67, of Holguin, expressed his irritation, saying he hadn’t expected another blackout so soon. “It really irks me. Let’s see when they turn it back on,” he said.
Cuba blames its economic problems on a decades-long U.S. embargo, a complicated regulatory system that impedes financial transactions, and troubles in obtaining vital supplies such as fuel and spare parts. In recent times, former U.S. President Donald Trump ramped up sanctions against the Cuban government, promising to keep a tight policy towards the island.
In response to the electricity crisis, Cuba is moving fast to install a minimum of 55 solar farms with Chinese technology by the close of the year. Local officials estimate the plants will provide some 1,200 MW of electricity, or around 12 percent of the country’s total, in an attempt to reduce the energy deficit.
