The National Electroenergetic System (SEN) of Cuba was making slow and partial progress toward restoration this Saturday, a day after the island experienced its eighth total blackout of the year, which happened on Friday afternoon when the successive failure of two 220 kV transmission lines left the entire country without electricity.
The collapse began at 1:52 PM on Friday, impacting the area between Pinar del Río and Matanzas, and five minutes later it extended from Matanzas to Guantánamo. The Ministry of Energy and Mines attributed the cause to a failure in the Matanzas-Cienfuegos line and, shortly after, in the Matanzas-Santa Clara line, within the context of unstable weather conditions.
The reconnection process began on Friday night with the creation of microsystems that gradually restored circuits. At 9:05 p.m. on Friday, the Ministry of Energy and Mines reported, through the Electric Company Villa Clara, that Units 1 and 2 of Santa Cruz were already online along with four units generating with accompanying gas.
In Matanzas, the Electric Company reported the reconnection of Unit 2 of the Ernesto Guevara de la Serna Power Plant at 7:59 p.m. on Friday, gradually restoring circuits through the Guanábana battery, giving priority to the Faustino Pérez Provincial Hospital and other vital centers. The company cautioned that "while the microsystems process is being consolidated, it may be unstable, causing the power to come and go in the circuits that have already received service."
In the Mariel Special Zone, the Electric Union (UNE) announced the commissioning of Unit 6 of the Máximo Gómez CTE, bringing the system to a total of six generation units with accompanying gas.
In Havana, the restoration was the most documented. An initial report recorded only 3% of customers with service—about 30,277 out of 862,732—a figure that progressively improved.
In a later report, the Electric Company of the capital reported 25 out of 26 substations operational, 126 out of 286 active circuits, and 381,488 customers with electricity, equivalent to 44.2% restoration. All 45 hospitals in the capital had supply, but only six of the 18 main water pumping systems were operational.
In Cienfuegos, the electric company reported partial circuits in operation, prioritizing the provincial hospital, the pediatric hospital, ETECSA, and CUPET, and stated that it was «working to achieve a stable microsystem». In Isla de la Juventud, the company announced tests of the GM5 unit and a block rotation scheme in three-hour shifts to distribute the limited available supply.
This eighth total collapse of the SEN so far in 2026 occurs within the context of a structural energy crisis that the Cuban regime has been unable to reverse.
The Electric Company of Havana warned that "the restoration is carried out gradually as conditions of the National Electric System allow," and that customers may still be affected by other causes even when their circuit has been restored.
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