Related videos:
The Electric Union (UNE) reported this Saturday that the process of restoring the National Electroenergetic System (SEN) is facing an additional complication: during the early morning, a voltage collapse occurred in the microsystem of the western region, just hours after the country experienced its fourth total blackout of the year.
The collapse on Friday was triggered when a failure in the 220 kV line between Santa Clara and Sancti Spíritus caused the division of the National Electric System (SEN) at 3:55 PM, resulting in the shutdown of several thermal units and leading to a total disconnection just 35 minutes later, at 4:30 PM.
According to the official statement from UNE, the initial strategy consisted of establishing microsystems in each province of the country to ensure vital services while working on gradual restoration.
The state-owned company indicated that the priority now is to reintegrate the generation from the Energás Boca de Jaruco units to begin the sequential startup of the thermal power plants (TPP) Máximo Gómez, Ernesto Guevara, Antonio Guiteras, Carlos Manuel de Céspedes, and Diez de Octubre.
Only once the connection to the eastern part of the country is restored will the CTE Lidio Ramón Pérez Felton and Antonio Maceo be incorporated.
The statement concludes with a phrase that the regime repeats like a mantra during every crisis: "The electric workers have worked intensively throughout the night and early morning to restore service as quickly as possible." What it does not mention is the catastrophic state of the system that makes each new collapse inevitable.
At the time of the blackout on Friday, the availability of the national electricity system was only 935 MW compared to a demand of 3,100 MW, resulting in a projected deficit of over 2,100 MW.
In addition, 106 distributed generation plants remained inactive due to a lack of fuel, representing an additional 890 MW out of service.
The government's response has once again been rhetorical.
The Minister of Energy and Mines, Vicente de la O Levy, posted on X that "dignified and committed electric and oil workers in Cuba face the blackout every day" and that "no one gives up here", without announcing any structural measures.
Days earlier, the leader Miguel Díaz-Canel simply requested to “better organize” the blackouts without committing to any investment to increase generation.
The context exacerbates the seriousness of the moment: the blackout occurred just before July 11, the fifth anniversary of the massive popular protests of 2021.
Cuba has gone more than three months without receiving regular shipments of oil, the thermoelectric plants have accumulated between 40 and 60 years of age without comprehensive maintenance, and on July 8, the largest energy deficit in the country's history was reached: 2,341 MW, with 73% of the population affected simultaneously.
This is the fourth total blackout in Cuba in 2026 and the eighth in roughly 24 months, an unprecedented acceleration that the regime has been unable to - nor seems willing to - reverse with concrete measures.
It is estimated that modernizing Cuba's electrical system would require between 8 billion and 10 billion dollars, an amount that the dictatorship has no prospects of obtaining.
Filed under: