HAVANA (AP) — Half of Cuba woke up on Wednesday without electricity after a breakdown in the energy system that spanned from the provinces of Mayabeque and Artemisa to Pinar del Río.
The incident occurred after several days with outages – some scheduled and others surprising – amid the instability of the entire network.
Cubans residing from the center to the west of the island, including Havana, woke up without power, The Associated Press confirmed.
The state-run Unión Eléctrica (UNE) reported in a note on social networks that the collapse occurred around five in the morning.
According to the official of the Ministry of Energy and Mines – on which the UNE depends -, Lázaro Guerra, a failure in a transmission line that links the Santa Cruz del Norte power plants with Guiteras caused an overload and the fall of the western sector of the energy system.
“The protocols in the westernmost area of the country have already been restored, which is a faster process than when the entire system collapses,” Guerra explained to local state media. The return of the current will be progressive, he added.
The system crash occurs after two days of power shortages during peak hours nationwide that exceeded a 55% deficit.
On Monday, for example, the UNE forecast a requirement of 3,250 megawatts and a coverage of 1,325. In September there was a national collapse that took days to recover.
The lack of energy, which has become chronic in recent years, not only affects lighting, since in Cuba many people cook with electric energy that is also used for pumping water. In addition to the impact on industry and production.
Cuba is going through a harsh economic crisis that deepened during the coronavirus pandemic – which paralyzed the key tourism sector – and was exacerbated by a failed internal financial reform to unify the currency and an increase in United States sanctions.
