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Just one day after the general blackout that left the western part of Cuba without electricity (from Pinar del Río to Cienfuegos), the country woke up again to widespread outages and an increasingly critical situation.
The Unión Eléctrica (UNE) revealed that the country experienced disruptions throughout the previous 24 hours, with a maximum impact of 2,152 MW recorded at 7:10 PM, a figure that highlights the magnitude of an energy collapse that the Government has been unable to control or reverse.
The current situation of the National Electric System (SEN) reveals the depth of the crisis: at 6:00 am this Thursday, the availability was only 1,250 MW compared to a demand of 2,400 MW, resulting in a deficit of over 1,100 MW since the early hours of the day.
By midday, it was already estimated that the impact would increase to 1,200 MW, a scenario that condemns the population to prolonged blackouts even during traditionally less critical hours.
Behind these numbers lies a complex web of accumulated failures, maintenance that never arrives on time, units that go out of service time and time again, and a system that is unable to sustain itself.
Blocks of thermoelectric power plants continue to shut down due to successive failures: Mariel, Santa Cruz, Felton, and Renté are once again unable to keep their plants operational.
This is joined by other units in the CTE Mariel, Santa Cruz, and Carlos Manuel de Céspedes, which, according to UNE, are under maintenance, although the sector's history clearly shows that these efforts rarely address the underlying issues.
Thermal generation also carries 419 MW in limitations, and distributed generation, which has been presented by the Government for years as a "strategic solution," now has 80 power plants out of operation due to a lack of fuel, resulting in 716 MW unavailable because of this issue.
This is compounded by 69 MW that are unavailable due to a lack of lubricants, direct evidence of a state unable to guarantee even the basic supplies needed to keep its own equipment operational.
In total, 785 MW are lost solely due to the lack of fuel and lubricants, an unmistakable sign of the disorganization and institutional inefficiency that have led the country to depend on chance—rather than planning—to turn on a light bulb.
Despite this critical situation, the UNE forecasts an even worse scenario for peak hours.
Even with the anticipated entry of unit 8 from Mariel with 65 MW and the return of unit 1 from Felton with 125 MW, the total availability would barely rise to 1,440 MW against an estimated demand of 3,200 MW.
The result: a deficit of 1,760 MW and a forecasted impact of 1,830 MW, a figure almost identical to the total collapse.
The government is trying to showcase progress by highlighting the production from 33 new solar photovoltaic parks, which generated 1,502 MWh and reached a maximum power of 190 MW at noon.
But these figures presented as an achievement do not manage to disguise the reality: solar contribution remains insufficient compared to a power grid that loses more capacity than it gains, and continues to depend on obsolete, neglected, and fuel-less thermal plants.
Situation in Havana
The Electric Company of Havana reported that service was disrupted for 22 hours and 20 minutes on Wednesday.
The maximum impact was 318 MW at 7:10 PM. It was restored at 10:22 PM.
"Due to a malfunction in the transmission network, there was a disconnection of the western system affecting the entire city," he recalled.
Government Response: Justifications without Solutions
As the crisis deepens, official explanations repeat the same narrative without taking responsibility.
The lack of real planning, negligence in the maintenance of power plants, dependence on increasingly scarce fuels, and the inability to build a stable electrical system have led Cubans to a scenario where blackouts are constant, endless, and increasingly severe.
The population, already living with water cuts, overwhelmed transportation, and rampant inflation, faces another day where darkness is not the exception, but the norm.
And the Government, once again, only offers figures that confirm what is already evident throughout the Island: the Cuban energy crisis has become a structural failure that neither propaganda nor triumphant headlines can hide.
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