Cuba woke up this Friday plunged into a significant electrical crisis, with prolonged service interruptions and a generation system that barely meets national demand.
The report from the Electric Union (UNE) confirmed that during the previous day, Christmas Day, the supply was continuously affected throughout the 24 hours, peaking at 2,171 megawatts at 6:20 PM.
The figure was higher than expected (a shortfall of 1,965 MW had been forecasted) because one of the main units of the Mariel complex couldn't be integrated into the system as planned.
This Friday morning, the actual available capacity was barely over 1,260 MW compared to a demand of around 2,250 MW, resulting in an immediate shortfall of more than 900 MW.
By noon, the state-owned company projected an increase in the deficit to nearly 1,100 MW, confirming that blackouts would continue to spread across large areas of the country.
The deterioration of the National Electroenergetic System (SEN) is manifesting on multiple fronts simultaneously.
In Mariel, three generating blocks remain out of service due to technical failures, while another unit at the Felton power plant is also inactive due to mechanical issues.
One of the units at the Máximo Gómez thermal power plant (Mariel) went offline at 9:58 AM, just 55 minutes after having synchronized with the grid, due to reasons that are still unknown, highlighting the fragility of the system.
The brief operating period sparked a wave of ironic comments and frustration on social media, where citizens emphasized that the unit "didn't last even an hour" and questioned the time authorities spend "investigating" each malfunction, only for the same issues to recur days later.
Additionally, two plants at the CTEs in Santa Cruz del Norte and Carlos Manuel de Céspedes in Cienfuegos continue to have units out of operation due to maintenance processes that have lasted longer than expected, further reducing the country's thermal capacity.
In total, more than 600 MW remain unavailable due to technical limitations in the thermoelectric plants.
The situation is worsened by the precariousness of the fuel supply.
More than a hundred distributed generation plants are unable to operate fully due to shortages of diesel and fuel oil, while floating facilities and plants in mining areas of eastern Cuba are also unable to provide energy due to a lack of essential supplies such as lubricants.
Together, these deficiencies represent more than 1,200 MW that the country fails to produce daily, not due to structural failures of the machines, but because of the inability to ensure the basic resources for their operation.
For peak consumption hours, the UNE anticipates the partial reintegration of some units and platforms, which would raise availability to around 1,490 MW.
However, the projected maximum demand exceeds 3,300 MW, so the shortfall during the nighttime peak would be around 1,860 MW, leaving the population exposed to simultaneous outages of 1,890 MW.
Although the country already has 34 photovoltaic solar parks, which contributed nearly 3,000 MW on this day with a maximum output close to 584 megawatts, this effort remains insufficient to offset the collapse of thermal generation and the chronic fuel shortages that are crippling the system.
From Havana, the capital electric company confirmed that, due to low energy availability, it will not be possible to meet the announced schedules.
On Thursday, the electric service was disrupted for 15 hours and 12 minutes. The highest impact was 419 MW at 6:20 PM. It was restored at 1:30 AM today.
The blocks will be disconnected for emergencies and rotated according to the pressure of the system, a system that leaves thousands of families uncertain about when they will have electricity again.
The landscape reveals an exhausted energy network, characterized by a lack of timely investments, the absence of systematic maintenance, and a management incapable of ensuring fuel, parts, and operational stability.
While the authorities acknowledge the deficits in their daily reports, millions of Cubans continue to organize their lives around candles, lanterns, and makeshift plants, in a country where darkness has become the norm.
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