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The Electric Union (UNE) announced this Friday the full restoration of the National Electroenergetic System (SEN), after linking the province of Granma at 15:09, following the online activation of the Unit 6 of the Máximo Gómez CTE at 14:44.
“The National Electroenergetic System has been restored,” announced the UNE on its social media, bringing an end to more than 24 hours during which Santiago de Cuba, Granma, and Guantánamo operated as isolated microsystems.
The collapse that preceded this announcement was triggered in the early hours of Thursday, May 14, when the Antonio Guiteras Thermoelectric Plant went offline at 04:58 due to a boiler leak, marking its ninth malfunction so far in 2026.
At 06:09, a partial collapse of the SEN occurred, leaving the entire area from Ciego de Ávila to Guantánamo without electricity, with only 636 MW available against a demand of 2,420 MW.
The reconnection was gradual: Ciego de Ávila was connected at 08:16, Camagüey at 09:19, and Las Tunas at 09:50, but the more eastern provinces remained disconnected until this Friday.
This Friday, the situation worsened even further when the Unit 1 of the Felton Thermoelectric Power Plant went offline at 1:13 PM, just two and a half hours after being synchronized with the National Electric System, due to a high level in the low-pressure heater.
It was precisely the online activation of Unit 6 of the CTE Máximo Gómez that allowed for the total restoration to be completed, although the term does not imply the end of blackouts.
The UNE report this Friday stated that at 06:30, the availability was 1,241 MW against a demand of 2,800 MW, with 1,565 MW affected, and the projected deficit for the nighttime peak reached 1,619 MW.
On Wednesday, May 13, a record impact of 2,153 MW was recorded at 9:30 PM, and on Thursday, the maximum impact was 1,991 MW at 9:20 PM.
The backdrop of the crisis is devastating. The Minister of Energy and Mines, Vicente de la O Levy, admitted on Thursday that Cuba has no fuel: "We absolutely have no fuel oil, no diesel, only associated gas," describing the situation as "acute, critical, and extremely tense."
Cuba exhausted the 100,000 metric tons of Russian oil that arrived on March 31 by the end of April, with no new shipments confirmed, and has not received Venezuelan crude since November 2025 or Mexican oil since February 2026.
The CTE Guiteras, considered the largest individual generator of the SEN, has gone over 15 years without capital maintenance, with the last one carried out in 2010. Its director, Román Pérez Castañeda, acknowledged that it requires at least 180 days of downtime, although he admitted that "the country's situation still does not allow it."
The "total restoration" announced by the UNE means that all provinces are interconnected to the SEN, but the system continues to operate with a structural deficit of over 1,600 MW during peak nighttime hours, with multiple units out of service and insufficient fuel to operate the available plants.
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