Havana/“It seems that Cuba completely turned off again, does anyone know anything?” Messages like this multiply on social networks this Monday, when the withdrawal of two thermoelectric plants from the system threatens to raise the deficit well above the maximum foreseen by the Electrical Union (UNE). It was already worrying: for a demand of 3,250 megawatts (MW) in the evening peak hours, only 1,488 MW are estimated to be available. If we take into account that the final impact was forecast at 1,792, it means that 56% of national demand would not be covered.
In the UNE report, however, the departure of the CTE service Antonio Guiteras, from Matanzas, does not appear, “due to failures in the networks,” according to a brief statement published in the official press.
The plant’s deputy technical director, Román Pérez Castañeda, explained that Guiteras was “stablely” delivering 200 MW until, yesterday, “the transmission lines failed and it was necessary to exit the system.”
Although the authorities assure that the thermoelectric plant will be synchronized before midnight today, they make it conditional that “the breakdown in the 220 kilovolt transmission line on which work has been carried out from the beginning” be resolved. As the official press warned a few days ago, Guiteras, “the largest unitary block in the country,” was already operating “with limitations due to a breakdown.” Its next capital maintenance, initially scheduled for this December, has been postponed until September 2026.
Now, they turn on the power every six hours, something he considers “a luxury.”
“I already assume that Guiteras will be stopped for three days, as always when something like this happens,” says a resident of Sancti Spíritus who has seen the UNE plan for the municipality derailed in recent weeks. Now, they turn on the power every six hours, something he considers “a luxury” considering that in the territory they have only had two hours of light a day.
In Havana, at least in the municipality of Plaza de la Revolución, where there are tall buildings and the Editorial Office is located 14ymediothere was a blackout from 6 am to 2:15 pm. The respite only lasted five minutes: at 2:20 they turned off the light again.
“We want to inform you that as several units are in breakdown and due to low generation availability, the frequency is unstable, which produces DAF trips. [disparos eléctricos automáticos] in some circuits in several municipalities of the capital,” the local electricity company explained with redundancy.
Nor does the UNE’s daily statement include the line trip that caused the Antonio Maceo power plant in Santiago de Cuba, known as Renté, to leave the national energy system (SEN) for an hour this Monday.
The latter caused the province of Guantánamo and a good part of the east to wake up completely blacked out. When the newspaper we will win announced the moment when the thermoelectric plant was already connected, the publication was filled with suspicious comments.
“We connected and what did they solve, because we are still in blackout”
“And when did this unusual event occur?” Alexander Rodríguez Tomasen asked sardonically, in the same line of bitter humor as other commentators, such as Nadia Ros Herrada: “But where did they connect it?” Most opinions, however, were direct and angry. “It doesn’t matter whether we are disconnected or connected, we are still in the same situation,” wrote Tamara Espalter, in which other Guantanamo residents abounded. “We connected and what did they solve, because we are still in blackout”; “It is a joke or a joke in bad taste, please respect it, because circuit 1824 seems to have been left out of the SEN, if we never have electricity, here we are in the era of prehistory”; “Don’t fight with that, it doesn’t matter whether you are connected or disconnected, we never realize that because we never have power,” were some of the protests on networks.
The angry comments explained this line in another statement from we will win: “At this moment the existing electricity deficit in the province is due to the lack of generation.”
Two days ago, national television reported that the year will end with a slight increase in crude oil and gas production on the Island, recognizing that this does not cover “the demands for electricity generation and our economy.” “There were 13 years of decline,” the report stated, with a vocabulary that did not hide the truth despite its convoluted nature. “Since 2012, figures and indicators have been declining. Crude oil and gas production showed sustained downward trends.”
According to Osvaldo López Corzo, head of Exploration at Unión Cuba Petróleo, 2025 concludes with a total of 2.2 million tons of crude oil and gas, 80,000 tons, the official indicated, “above the plan and above what was produced in 2024.”
