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The Unit 1 of the Lidio Ramón Pérez "Felton" Thermal Power Plant went online at 10:42 this Friday and went offline just two and a half hours later, at 13:13, due to a high level in the low-pressure heater, according to the announcement from Unión Eléctrica on its social media.
The outage directly worsens the electricity forecast for this Friday night.
The UNE had announced fewer power outages for today with the entry of Felton, which projected a capacity of 1,601 MW against a peak demand of 3,220 MW, resulting in a deficit of 1,619 MW during the night peak, significantly better than the maximum impact on Thursday, which reached 1,991 MW at 9:20 PM.
With the new release of the unit, that improvement scenario is compromised, and the blackouts scheduled for tonight will increase compared to what was announced this morning.
The situation is especially critical for the eastern part of the country. Santiago de Cuba, Granma, and Guantánamo were operating as isolated microsystems from the National Electric System, awaiting the reconnection of Felton, which was the key to reintegrating those provinces into the national grid.
This new breakdown occurs in a devastating energy context. The Minister of Energy and Mines, Vicente de la O Levy, admitted on Thursday that Cuba "has absolutely no fuel, no diesel, only associated gas," describing the situation as "acute, critical, and extremely tense."
The fuel crisis is compounded by the breakdown of the Termoeléctrica Antonio Guiteras, the largest individual generator in the system, which was taken offline on Thursday due to a boiler leak, marking its ninth breakdown in 2026, with repairs estimated to take between three and four days.
Felton has a history of recurring outages this year. On February 5, its simultaneous outage with Unit 5 of Renté caused a massive blackout in the east; on February 11, it went offline due to a false hydrogen sensor alarm; and on May 11, it was taken offline for 96 hours of maintenance, pushing the projected deficit to 1,985 MW.
Unit 2 of the plant remains out of service, and its Block 2 has been undergoing rehabilitation since 2019, with repairs scheduled until 2027-2028.
The collapse of external fuel supply exacerbates the structural crisis. Cuba has exhausted Russian oil —100,000 metric tons arrived on March 31— by the end of April, with no new shipments confirmed. Since November 2025, it has not received Venezuelan crude oil, and since February 2026, nor from Mexico.
On May 13, a record disruption of 2,153 MW was registered at 21:30, and the partial collapse of the SEN on Thursday left the entire central and eastern regions of the country without electricity, from Ciego de Ávila to Guantánamo.
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