Cuba will face a day of blackouts this Saturday that will simultaneously affect 56% of the country during the hours of greatest electricity demand, reported the state company Unión Eléctrica de Cuba (UNE).
According to the UNE, the generation capacity expected for the evening will be 1,389 megawatts (MW), while the maximum demand will reach 3,100 MW, which generates a deficit of 1,711 MW. To avoid disorderly blackouts, the estimated impact—the energy that will actually be disconnected—will be 1,741 MW.
Currently, six of the 16 operational thermoelectric production units are out of service due to breakdowns or maintenance, including two of the three largest, which represent approximately 40% of the country’s energy mix.
The UNE attributes the crisis to the obsolete conditions of the thermal plants, the lack of foreign currency to import fuel and the reduction in Venezuelan crude oil after the fall of President Nicolás Maduro, which adds to the oil siege of the United States.
Cuban Government experts also accuse Washington of exerting “energy asphyxiation” on the island, in the midst of a crisis that has been going on since mid-2024 and that has worsened in recent weeks.
EFE/OnCuba
