Cuba still largely without power after nationwide grid collapse

Cuba is facing a major crisis as the island nation remains largely without power on Saturday morning. The collapse of the grid the night before has left 10 million people without electricity, raising concerns about the viability of Cuba’s aging generating system.

At sunrise, the island’s grid operator UNE reported that only a small amount of electricity, around 225 MW, was being generated. This is less than 10% of the total demand and is only enough to cover essential services like hospitals, water supply, and food production centers.

Officials have started the process of restarting the country’s decades-old generation plants, but there is no timeline for when normal service will be restored. The grid failure on Friday evening was caused by an aging component of a transmission line at a substation in Havana shorting out, leading to a complete shutdown of power generation across the island.

This latest grid collapse comes after a series of blackouts late last year that severely impacted Cuba’s already fragile power system. Fuel shortages, natural disasters, and economic crises have all contributed to the stress on the grid, leading to widespread blackouts.

Outside of the capital city of Havana, most Cubans have been living with rolling blackouts for months, with some areas experiencing up to 20 hours of darkness a day. Havana is still largely without electricity on Saturday morning, with traffic lights not functioning and limited cellular internet in some areas.

The lack of power has made life increasingly difficult for many Cubans, with severe shortages of food, medicine, and water. This has led to a record number of people fleeing the island in recent years.

Cuba blames its economic challenges on the long-standing U.S. trade embargo, which restricts financial transactions and the acquisition of essential resources like fuel and spare parts. The grid official on Saturday morning mentioned that Cuba has been unable to update its outdated transmission and generation components due to these restrictions.

With President Donald Trump recently tightening sanctions on Cuba’s government, the situation is expected to become even more challenging. Despite the blackout, residents like Yunior Reyes, a bike taxi driver, are trying to carry on with their daily lives, worried about their food reserves spoiling in the heat.

As Cuba works to reestablish its electrical service after this second grid collapse, the future remains uncertain for the island nation and its people.