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Blackouts continue to be a common part of daily life in Cuba this Monday, January 12, after the Electric Union acknowledged a widespread impact on the National Electric System that lasted all Sunday and continued into the early hours.
The magnitude of the generation deficit once again exposed the fragility of the country's energy system and the high cost that this crisis imposes on the population.
According to the official report, during the previous day, the service was limited for 24 hours, with a peak impact of 1,736 MW at 6:40 PM.
As early as this Monday morning, the actual generation availability barely reached 1,550 MW compared to a demand of 2,180 MW, a gap of 635 MW that foreshadowed further interruptions and would result in cuts of 900 MW by noon.
The state-owned company detailed that a significant part of this situation is due to a series of technical failures and forced outages at the thermal power plants of Mariel, Nuevitas, Felton, and Antonio Maceo, as well as units out of service for maintenance work at the CTE Santa Cruz and Cienfuegos.
This is compounded by limitations in thermal generation that leave 580 MW offline.
However, the problem goes much deeper than just simple breakdowns.
A significant portion of the lost capacity is directly linked to the shortage of fuel (855 MW) and essential supplies such as lubricants (165 MW), which leaves 96 distributed generation plants either idle or operating well below their potential.
In total, 1,020 MW remain unavailable due to this issue, a figure that alone explains much of the blackouts currently affecting the country.
For peak consumption times, the outlook is even more bleak.
Energy authorities anticipate that the demand for 3,280 MW will far exceed the actual generation capacity (a mere 1,550 MW), leading to a shortfall of 1,730 MW. This situation predicts prolonged and widespread blackouts across the entire nation due to an impact of 1,760 MW.
Although the government has invested in the expansion of solar energy, official data shows that, even with the addition of 34 photovoltaic parks and a production exceeding 3,000 MW, this source does not come close to compensating for the collapse of the thermoelectric plants or the fuel shortages affecting the system.
reported outages lasting six hours the previous day, peaking at 225 MW at 6:40 PM, which could not be restored until 10:31 PM.
Although the capital woke up without power outages in the early morning, authorities warned that interruptions will continue depending on the demands of the national system, acknowledging that stability is still far from being guaranteed.
Beyond the official figures, the electricity crisis has become a stifling routine that shows no signs of improvement.
Since the beginning of the year, daily deficits have consistently ranged between 1,400 and over 1,800 MW, a gap that translates into prolonged blackouts, unpredictable interruptions, and a daily life subjected to energy uncertainty. This is not just about technical figures, but about hours without cooking, without refrigeration, without pumped water, and without real rest for millions of families.
The situation threatens to deteriorate even further in the short term. In addition to the structural fuel cut, the blockade of Venezuelan oil now adds to the crisis, which for years artificially sustained the Cuban energy system and, following new decisions from Washington, will be redirected to the U.S. market.
Without that external cushion, the fragile generation mechanism of the Island becomes even more exposed, with less room to maneuver to cover demand spikes and a greater likelihood of prolonged outages.
In that scenario, announcements about solar parks, scheduled maintenance, or internal redistributions are clearly insufficient for the scale of the problem.
The population continues to bear the cost of decades of poor management, external dependency, and a planning process that did not prioritize the real renewal of infrastructure. While the official discourse insists on explaining the crisis, the reality is that the electrical service has become another front of social, economic, and emotional strain for a country that is already living on the edge.
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