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More than 20 hours after the total collapse of the National Electroenergetic System (SEN) that occurred on Monday, the Cuban regime reported on Tuesday gradual advances in the restoration of electric service, with an interconnected corridor extending from Mariel, in Artemisa, to Sancti Spíritus.
The director of the National Cargo Office, Félix Estrada Rodríguez, confirmed on the morning of this Tuesday that the restoration began in the western part of the country, specifically in Jaruco, where an island was formed in the Western System with the support of the Energy Storage System (BES), a next-generation technology incorporated into the recovery process.
From that initial core, service was provided to the power plants in Mariel and Santa Cruz, and the microsystem was extended toward the center of the country until it reached the power plant Carlos Manuel de Céspedes in Cienfuegos.
The Minister of Energy and Mines, Vicente de la O Levy, announced this Tuesday on social media platform X that the next stated objective is to advance towards the east: "With the electrical system linked from Havana to Sancti Spíritus and the start-up of the units at the CTE 'Céspedes' initiated, our priority is to reach Felton and continue. We are progressing while adhering to all established protocols."
The two units of the CTE Céspedes, which would contribute nearly 300 MW to the base generation, are essential for extending the restoration towards the central-eastern region and starting the Lidio Ramón Pérez thermoelectric plant in Mayarí, Holguín.
The situation in the provinces is diverse, and progress is slow.
In Cienfuegos, the energy island provided service to 17 circuits with a load of 30 MW, and the interconnection of the Cienfuegos-Matanzas subsystem was completed.
In Villa Clara, the situation is more critical: the province has only 38 MW, which limits the service to 28 strategic circuits in Santa Clara, Sagua la Grande, Camajuaní, Manicaragua, and Cifuentes.
Municipalities in Villa Clara such as Quemado de Güines, Santo Domingo, Corralillo, and Ranchuelo will not receive power in this stage of the restoration, as acknowledged by Yadier Ruiz, director of the Load Dispatch in the province.
"We will gradually attempt, whenever possible, to provide service to a minimum of residential circuits with extended blackout hours," said Ruiz, who described the maneuver as "very complex" due to the electricity deficit and the number of thermal plants malfunctioning.
In Las Tunas, a microgrid of 12 MW has been in operation since 2:00 AM this Tuesday, supplying health centers, drinking water sources, and the hospital of Puerto Padre.
The rest of the hospital institutions in the province continue operating with emergency generators.
The main obstacle to recovery continues to be the shortage of fuel.
Estrada Rodríguez acknowledged that the system collapsed with less than 900 MW available on Monday morning, and that the country does not have sufficient diesel reserves for distributed generation or for the barges in the bay of Havana.
This is the seventh total blackout of the SEN in 18 months and the third in 2026, within the context of an energy crisis that continues without structural solution and has sparked popular protests in several municipalities across the country in recent days.
"Today, the most important thing is to achieve the start-up of the Céspedes units to ensure the continued restoration of the system," emphasized Estrada Rodríguez, making it clear that the eastern part of the country is waiting for this critical step to materialize.
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