The Electric Union (UNE) announced this Sunday at 11:05 AM that Unit 8 of the Máximo Gómez Thermal Power Plant, located in Mariel, Artemisa province, has successfully come online with the National Electroenergetic System.
The unit had been out of service since June 5, 2026, when it was taken offline for reasons that the state-owned company never publicly explained.
The announcement comes amidst an unprecedented electrical crisis. According to the morning report from UNE for this Sunday, at 6:00 a.m. the system's availability was merely 1,108 MW against a demand of 2,807 MW, with 1,723 MW affected.
For peak demand, the UNE projected a deficit of 2,032 MW and an impact of 2,062 MW, figures that position this Sunday among the worst days of the year for electrical supply in Cuba.
On Saturday, the maximum impact reached 2,179 MW at 7:50 PM, and the service was interrupted for 24 hours, including the entire night.
In addition to Unit 8 of Máximo Gómez, the report indicated that Unit 6 of the same plant, Unit 2 of the CTE Felton, and Unit 3 of the CTE Renté were also out of service, while another four units were undergoing maintenance. The limitations in thermal generation reached 460 MW.
The reaction of the Cubans to the official publication from the UNE was one of immediate skepticism. "How long will it last?" and "Which one is up to leave now?" were two of the first responses.
Other comments highlighted the contradiction between the announcements of reconnection and everyday reality: "Thermal power plants continue to come online, and blackouts persist for over 20 hours," wrote a user.
Another added, "What worries me is that the thermoelectric plants are still coming online and we continue to have more than twelve hours without power."
From Ciego de Ávila, a Cuban summarized the situation bluntly: "So, what good does that do me? In Morón Centro, we live in the dark all day and they only give us a little bit of power in the early morning. How long will this abuse last?"
Skepticism is well-documented. On Friday, the Antonio Guiteras thermoelectric plant — the largest in the country — was online for only 26 minutes before failing due to a boiler leak. It was reconnected on Saturday amid similar mockery.
A Cuban even expressed a different kind of concern about the Guiteras: "I'm worried about the situation with the Guiteras; it's been online for almost 24 hours. What time does it leave?" she wrote, reflecting how much the population has normalized failures as something inevitable.
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