Cuba began this week with prolonged blackouts that will obscure almost half of the country simultaneously.
With a deficit of 1 412 megawatts, the affectation will reach 1 482 MW in the evening, the schedule of greater demand.
The electricity union, belonging to the Ministry of Energy and Mines, estimated for the peak of demand of this day a maximum electricity generation of 1 838 MW and a demand of 3 250 MW.
The company’s report accounts for breakdowns and maintenance in five of the 20 thermoelectric production units (distributed in seven centrals).
The island is plunged into a deep energy crisis without possible solutions in the short term and has been registering long cuts in the supply since last August for the multiple breakdowns in its thermoelectric plants and lack of fuel for distributed generation engines.
The country has suffered four national blackouts in the last six months, disconnections that UNE took several days to correct. Currently, large areas of the country usually register blackouts of around 20 hours a day.
Russia proposed to Cuba a program of measures to mitigate consequences of the energy crisis
Independent experts explain that the energy crisis is due to a chronic infinance of this sector, completely in the hands of the Cuban state since the triumph of the revolution in 1959.
According to various independent calculations, the Cuban government would specify between 8 thousand and 10 billion dollars to refloat the national electrical system, an investment out of reach. And any solution would be possible only in the long term.
The frequent blackouts have the Cuban economy, which contracted 1.9 % in 2023 and did not grow last year, according to estimates of the government itself. According to these figures, GDP remains below the 2019 levels, which will not be exceeded this 2025, for which the Executive provides for a 1 %figure.
