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After a Christmas Eve with much of the country in darkness, Cubans will find no relief on Christmas Day either, as the Electric Union (UNE) announced another day of widespread blackouts for this Thursday, with an impact of nearly 2,000 megawatts (MW) during peak hours.
The already critical situation of the National Electroenergy System (SEN) worsened even further this morning, with the shutdown of unit 8 of the Maximo Gómez thermoelectric power plant in Mariel due to a "leak in the economizer," as reported by UNE on Facebook, without providing further details. To make matters worse, at 11:05 a.m., block 3 of the CTE Carlos Manuel de Céspedes in Cienfuegos also went out of service due to a "6 kV trip."
These outages were added to simultaneous failures in four other units: units 5 and 6 of the CTE Antonio Maceo, “Renté”, in Santiago de Cuba; unit 5 of the CTE del Mariel, in Artemisa; and unit 2 of the CTE Felton (Lidio Ramón Pérez), in Holguín. Meanwhile, three other plants are under maintenance or out of service due to a lack of fuel and lubricants.
Given the circumstances, the forecast for this Thursday seems as frightening as that of the previous day.
According to the official note from UNE, it is estimated that unit 6 of the Mariel CTE will enter service with 70 MW during peak demand hours. Additionally, it was reported that the completion of unit 3 of the Cienfuegos CTE was expected to provide 50 MW; however, hours later, its service was reported as terminated.
During peak hours, there will be a availability of only 1,365 MW, just over one third of the maximum demand of 3,300 MW, which means the deficit will reach 1,935 MW and the impact is expected to reach 1,965 MW, quite close to what was recorded on Wednesday.
The entry of unit 6 of the Mariel thermoelectric plant, currently under maintenance, had already been announced for the day before, but it did not occur.
The UNE assured that this was the reason that on December 24, the maximum impact due to a generation capacity deficit exceeded official forecasts, with 2,015 megawatts (MW) at 6:30 p.m. The country again experienced blackouts for 24 hours on a date when Cubans were hoping for at least a break for Christmas.
This Thursday, the availability of the SEN was at just 1,245 MW at 6:00 a.m., while demand reached 2,100 MW, resulting in a generation deficit of 750 MW. For the noon hour, a shortfall of 1,400 MW was anticipated.
In addition to interruptions due to breakdowns and maintenance work, the UNE noted that there are also limitations in thermal generation, which amount to 536 MW out of service, and issues related to a lack of fuel and lubricant, affecting a total of 813 MW.
Power outages in the country have become chronic over the past five years, but in the second half of 2025, they have escalated, and this December 24th, they overshadowed the Christmas celebrations on the island.
The energy crisis in Cuba is a clear evidence of the government's inability to ensure a stable electricity service, even on dates of great significance for the population.
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