The Electric Union (UNE) took to social media this Wednesday to deny the rumors that circulated after a vessel entered the Havana Bay: the barge is not coming to reinforce the electrical system, but rather to undergo maintenance.
The entity posted a clarification on Facebook labeled as "#FALSE" and was direct: "The barge that entered the Bay of Havana yesterday will not be used for the generation of the National Electroenergetic System. It comes from the Dominican Republic and its sole purpose is to receive maintenance at the Asticar port."
The vessel that arrived this Wednesday will head to Asticar (Astilleros del Caribe), the state-owned Cuban shipyard dedicated to ship repair and maintenance, which features a floating dock 100 meters long with a capacity to lift up to 4,500 tons.
The journalist Ana Teresa Badia also took to her social media to clarify the situation: "No, no new Turkish patana has arrived to provide services to the SEN. The one in the photo must be the one that has remained in Cuba, or another similar one to fix something."
Badia pointed out the underlying issue that renders any such arrival irrelevant: "Let's remember that the main issue is the fuel for this boat, which I reiterate has never left Havana."
Indeed, Cuba lacks the necessary fuel to operate its floating power plants.
The Melones and Regla barges were out of service due to a lack of fuel in various parts of the Electric Union, which starkly illustrates why the arrival of a vessel intended for maintenance —and not for generating electricity— is significant in this context.
It is not the first time that the regime has had to deny this type of rumor. In April 2026, the Ministry of Energy and Mines had to deny the arrival of a new floating power plant in a nearly identical incident.
At that moment, it was confirmed that only two active Turkish floating storage units remained in the country —the Belgin Sultan and the Erol Bay, with a combined capacity of 124 MW— and that their operation depended on the arrival of Russian fuel.
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