Cuba faces another day of widespread power outages this Monday: according to the informative report from the Unión Eléctrica (UNE), the availability of the National Electric System (SEN) for peak demand will be only 1,030 MW against a demand of 2,900 MW, resulting in a deficit of 1,870 MW and a projected impact of 1,900 MW — less than 36% of what the country needs.
This means that more than 64% of the demand will remain unmet during the nighttime peak, leaving millions of Cubans in the dark at the same time.
At six in the morning this Monday, the situation was already critical: the UNE reported an availability of 1,030 MW against a demand of 2,250 MW, with 1,176 MW already affected at that time. The state agency also estimated an impact of 1,250 MW for midday.
On Sunday, things were no better. The state company acknowledged that "the service was affected by a capacity deficit throughout the 24 hours" and that the impact persisted even throughout the early morning. The peak for the previous day reached 1,849 MW at 7:30 PM.
The breakdown report is extensive. The units currently out of service are unit 1 of the Santa Cruz thermoelectric power plant (CTE), unit 2 of the Felton CTE, and units 3 and 6 of the Renté CTE. Under maintenance are unit 8 of the Mariel CTE, unit 3 of the Santa Cruz CTE, unit 5 of the Nuevitas CTE, and unit 5 of the Renté CTE. The limitations in thermal generation total 508 MW. This morning, the corrective maintenance of unit 6 of the Nuevitas CTE was also scheduled, although the entry of unit 6 of the Renté CTE is expected with only 60 MW during peak hours. The only source that provided some relief was solar energy: the photovoltaic parks generated 3,490 MWh on Sunday, with a maximum power output of 543 MW at noon. But that energy disappears as night falls, just when demand reaches its peak.
This situation is not an exception but rather part of a crisis that has been unresolved for nearly a year. In the previous week, the deficits ranged between 1,730 and 1,933 MW daily. The worst record in October was on October 2, with 2,130 MW of impact, and on October 16, a fire at the Santa Cruz CTE reduced availability to 740 MW, leaving 75.5% of the demand without coverage. So far in 2026, the SEN has experienced at least eight total collapses, the latest on September 18, with a recovery time of about 32 hours.
Power outages have consequences that go beyond mere darkness. The National Institute of Hydraulic Resources acknowledged that about 2.5 million Cubans are affected by water supply issues due to electrical cuts, which prevent pumping systems from operating. The UN estimated in September that this number could rise to 3.5 million people.
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