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Cuba faces one of the most critical days of its prolonged energy crisis this Monday, with blackouts that could exceed 1,985 MW of impact during the peak nighttime hours, according to the official report from the Electric Union.
At 6:00 AM, the availability of the National Electric System was only 1,430 MW against a demand of 2,750 MW, with 1,305 MW already impacted since early morning.
For the nighttime peak, the organization projects a supply of only 1,245 MW against a demand of 3,200 MW, resulting in a deficit of 1,955 MW: more than half of the country will be without electricity.
The previous day, the situation was equally severe: the maximum impact reached 1,887 MW at 10:00 PM, "exceeding the planned levels due to the unexpected outage of unit 4 at the CTE Cienfuegos," according to the official report.
This Monday adds another blow to the system: unit 1 of the CTE Felton —officially known as Lidio Ramón Pérez, in Mayarí, Holguín— will be taken out of service for maintenance for 96 hours, meaning four more days without that capacity.
The Felton plant is already facing chronic problems: unit 2 is out of order, and Block 2 has been under rehabilitation since 2019, with repairs scheduled until 2027-2028.
Units 2 and 3 of the CTE Ernesto Guevara De La Serna and unit 5 of the CTE Antonio Maceo are also out of service, while units 5 of Mariel, 6 of Renté, and 5 of Nuevitas remain under maintenance.
In total, there are 425 MW out of service due to limitations in thermal generation.
Behind the escalation lies a trigger that the regime itself has acknowledged: the depletion of the oil donated by Russia.
On March 31, the Russian vessel Anatoly Kolodkin arrived at the port of Matanzas with 100,000 metric tons of crude oil —approximately 730,000 barrels— the first major supply in over three months.
But Miguel Díaz-Canel himself described that shipment as "symbolic," admitting that it only covered about 10 days of national consumption and barely reactivated more than 100 MW.
The Minister of Energy and Mines, Vicente de la O Levy, warned on April 22 during the Round Table that this fuel "would only last until the end of April."
Thus it was: Russian oil has run out without any new shipments confirmed for May, and the deficit has soared back above 1,500 MW.
The structural situation is devastating: Cuba needs 100,000 barrels of oil daily but produces only 40,000 locally, covering barely 40% of its needs.
Since November 2025, the Island stopped receiving Venezuelan crude oil following the capture of Nicolás Maduro, and in February 2026, Mexico also suspended its shipments, triggering blackouts at historic levels.
The 54 installed photovoltaic solar parks contributed 3,620 MWh this Monday with a maximum output of 531 MW at noon, but that energy disappears right when it is needed most: during the critical nighttime peak.
The system has suffered at least seven total collapses in the past 18 months, including a national blackout on March 16, 2026, and with no new supplies of crude oil in sight, the Cuban people face weeks of outages that could exceed everything recorded so far.
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