HAVANA (AP) — Cuba’s electrical grid was down Friday after one of the island’s main power plants malfunctioned, a day after a massive blackout swept the Caribbean island, and with no official estimate of when service would be restored.
The Cuban Ministry of Energy announced that the network was disrupted hours after the Antonio Guiteras Thermal Power Plant stopped working, at approximately 11 a.m. local time on Friday. She said state-owned energy company UNE was using distributed generation to provide power to some areas and that a gas-fired thermal power plant had begun operations.
But as darkness fell, millions of Cubans were left without electricity.
Even in a country accustomed to frequent outages In the midst of a worsening economic crisisFriday’s supply collapse was unprecedented in modern times, aside from incidents involving severe hurricanes, such as those that will occur in 2022. Various calls from The Associated Press seeking clarification of the extent of Friday’s power outages were not returned. In addition to the Antonio Guiteras factory, there are several other factories in Cuba and it was not immediately clear whether they were still operating or not.
“The power went out at 8 a.m., and now it’s 5 p.m., and there’s no electricity anywhere,” said Luis Gonzalez, a 73-year-old retiree in Havana.
Early Friday, Prime Minister Manuel Marrero sought to calm concerned citizens over Thursday evening’s power outage, which was already the worst in the country in at least two years.
Officials said 1.64 gigawatts were offline during peak hours, about half of the total demand at that time. Millions were left without power, and the government on Friday implemented emergency measures to reduce demand, including suspending classes, closing some state-owned workplaces and canceling non-essential services.
“The situation has worsened in recent days,” Marrero said in a special speech broadcast on national television in the early hours of Friday morning. He added, “We must be completely transparent… We have stopped economic activities to ensure the provision of energy to the population.”
During Marrero’s speech, he was accompanied by Alfredo Lopez, president of UNE, who said that Thursday’s power outages stemmed from increased demand from small and medium-sized businesses and for air conditioners in residences, as well as breakdowns in old thermal power plants that are no longer operational. They were properly maintained and lacked fuel to operate some facilities.
Changes in electricity prices for small and medium businesses, which have been widespread since Authorized by the Communist government for the first time in 2021It is also being considered, Marrero said.
Marrero sought to offer reassurances about the outage, pointing to the expected influx of fuel supplies from Cuba’s state-owned oil company.
“We devote absolute priority to addressing and solving this extremely sensitive energy problem.” Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel “There will be no rest until it is restored,” he wrote on the X.
The power outage has left millions of Cubans on edge. On Thursday evening, residents closed their doors and windows, which they usually leave open at night, and candles or lanterns were seen inside their homes. By Friday evening, there was no indication that a solution was imminent.
Prolonged power outages in the past have affected services such as water supply, and Havana resident Yasunay Perez quipped that she was willing and able to bathe in the sea.
“We can use all our survival (skills),” she said.
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