The Electric Union (UNE) completed the reconnection of the National Electroenergy System (SEN) on Tuesday at 6:11 PM, 29 hours and 29 minutes after the total collapse.
The official journalist Bernardo Espinosa provided the information from the National Cargo Office. The reconnection of the National Electric System occurred after millions of residents in Cuba were left without electricity since Monday at 1:40 PM.
The engineer Linsner Cruz Sánchez, head of operations at the National Cargo Dispatch, warned that "at this moment there is still a quite high deficit," with the units of the thermoelectric plants Mariel, Santa Cruz, Felton, and Rente still in the startup process.
The reconnection process was unusually slow and complex. It is important to clarify that the restoration of the SEN did not put an end to the blackouts.
Cruz Sánchez explained that the reconnection from Pinar del Río to Holguín had already been completed by 1:00 p.m. on Tuesday, while Granma, Santiago de Cuba, and Guantánamo were the last provinces to be reconnected.
The fuel shortage prevented the usual restoration through simultaneous islands across all provinces, forcing a sequential reconnection from the gas locations towards the east.
During the almost 30 hours of total disconnection, the UNE was only able to maintain electrical service in hospitals, water pumping stations, and food production centers. The collapse also caused a loss of 65% of internet data traffic on the island, according to records from Cloudflare.
This was the sixth total blackout of the National Electric System (SEN) in a year and a half, and the second in less than two weeks: the previous one occurred on March 4 due to a failure at the Antonio Guiteras Thermal Power Plant. Before the total collapse of the electrical system, availability was only 1,140 megawatts compared to a demand of 2,347 megawatts.
The UNE indicated that at the time of the collapse, no faults were reported in the operational units, without identifying a clear cause. The Cuban government acknowledged that it did not know what caused the blackout, which increased public uncertainty.
Last week, Miguel Díaz-Canel acknowledged to the press that "it has been three months since a fuel ship has arrived in the country." He stated that he understands the public's discomfort but assured that there will be no impunity for those who protest against the State.
Citizen desperation was expressed through pot-banging protests recorded in several neighborhoods of Havana and Santiago de Cuba.
The SEN has been interconnected, but the situation is far from being resolved.
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