The new peak arrives a week after a national blackout – the fifth in a year – that left the country 28 consecutive hours without electricity.
Miami, United States. – Cuba will face simultaneous blackouts on Wednesday in up to 57% of the national territory, the highest percentage of affectation of 2025 and the last two years, according to the data of the electricity union (UNE) collated daily by The EFE agency.
Last February the same percentage of deficit was reported, but now the new peak arrives a week after a national blackout – the fifth in a year— that left the country 28 consecutive hours without service. Not even the subsequent synchronization of the National Electrical System (SEN) has meant a relief of the blackouts.
For the highest consumption schedule on Wednesday, UNE calculates A maximum availability of 1,580 megawatts (MW) compared to a demand of 3,500 MW. However, the company itself warns that real results usually exceed the official prognosis.
At 6:00 a.m. on Wednesday, there was already a deficit of 1,381 MW due to lack of capacity. This Tuesday, the service was affected 24 hours a day and the maximum deficit reached 2,052 MW at 7:00 pm, a figure higher than the planned due to the non -entered service of Unit 5 of the CTE I rented or the engines of the Fuel Mariel Central, according to the part of the UNE.
UNE attributes the state of SEN to the combination of breakdowns and maintenance in obsolete thermoelectric plants and the shortage of fuels and lubricants that immobilizes part of the distributed generation.
This Wednesday, the Unit 5 of CTE Nuevitas, Units 3 and 5 of the CTE Renté, Unit 1 of the Santa Cruz CTE and Unit 2 of CTE Felton are out of breakdown. Meanwhile, in maintenance are Unit 5 of the CTE Mariel, Unit 1 of CTE Felton, Unit 2 of the Santa Cruz CTE and Unit 4 of the CTE Carlos Manuel de Céspedes, in Cienfuegos.
In addition, there are 301 MW limited by thermal restrictions. Due to lack of fuel, 33 distributed generation plants remain arrested that would contribute 261 MW and, due to lack of lubricant, another 235 MW, for a total of 496 MW indispensable due to supply causes.
As a forecast for the night peak, the company expects to recover 80 MW in engines currently stopped by fuel, add 50 MW with the entrance of Unit 1 of Santa Cruz and another 50 MW with Unit 3 of Renté, although with this the availability would continue in 1,580 MW against an estimated demand of 3,500 MW.
The generation balance includes the renewable contribution: the 31 new photovoltaic solar parks produced 2,723 MWh on Tuesday, with a maximum instantaneous power of 482 MW in the time of greatest irradiation. However, the renewable increase does not compensate for the magnitude of the deficit reported.
The Cuban government blames the US sanctions of the situation of SEN, but independent activists and analysts put responsibility for Havana, which has not investigated decades in their thermoelectricas.
According to UNE, service interruptions have as its main causes in thermal plants with decades of exploitation and the lack of fuel and currency to import it. The energy panorama, which has been aggravated since mid -2024, left averages of almost 16 hours a day without electricity in July and almost 15 in August, with cuts greater than 20 hours a day in large cities such as Santiago de Cuba, Matanzas and Holguín.
According to EFE, various independent calculations estimate that the Executive would need between 8,000 and 10,000 million dollars to refloat the electrical system, a sum of Havana does not have. The deterioration of the supply impacts an economy that, according to official data, fell 1.1% in 2024 and accumulates an 11% decline in the last five years; In addition, ECLAC foresees a negative gross domestic product in 2025.
The long blackouts have fed social discontent and were linked to the main protests of recent years, including the largest of all, July 2021. The regime, meanwhile, has responded with repression to the manifestations of discontent by the electric cuts.
