The Cuban Electric Union (UNE) announced that it is already working on the creation of microsystems to power the vital centers of the country, just hours after the National Electric Power System (SEN) completely collapsed for the fifth time in 2026, leaving millions of Cubans without electricity.
Through its official account on X, the state-owned company informed that they are preparing the schemes for microsystems from the SEN and that "once the conditions are in place, the energization of vital centers will begin," without specifying when this recovery would take place or what the specific cause of the new collapse was.
The blackout this Tuesday is the fifth total collapse of the National Electric System in 2026, the third in just eight days, making July the most critical month in the recent electrical history of the island.
Microsystems are isolated electrical networks that combine diesel generation and photovoltaic solar energy to ensure supply for hospitals, aqueducts, and telecommunications centers while the large thermal power plants are restarted.
The recovery process after a total collapse involves three phases: first, creating these local energy "islands," then interconnecting them, and finally synchronizing the thermal power plants.
Recent experience shows that this process can take days: after the blackout on July 6, ten hours after the collapse, only 5.6% of customers in Havana had their service restored.
The context prior to the new collapse was already extremely fragile. On July 13, the UNE confirmed that the service was affected for 24 consecutive hours, with a maximum deficit of 1,775 MW and 106 distributed generation plants halted due to a lack of fuel, which accounted for 890 MW unavailable.
The forecasted deficit for this Tuesday was between 1,990 and 2,020 MW, with a available generation of only 1,155 MW compared to a demand of 3,150 MW.
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