Cuba slowly starts restoring power after island-wide blackout
October 19, 2024
By Reuters
October 19, 2024
By Reuters
A woman prepares to catch a tossed flying disc during a massive blackout after a major power plant failed in Havana, Oct. 18, 2024.
HAVANA —
Cuba restored a trickle of power to its grid by mid-evening Friday, officials said, hours after the island plunged into a countrywide blackout following the collapse of one of its major power plants.
The vast majority of the country's 10 million residents were still in the dark Friday night, but scattered pockets of the capital Havana, including some of the city's major hospitals, saw lights flicker back on shortly after dark.
Grid operator UNE said it hoped to restart at least five of its oil-fired generation plants overnight, providing enough electricity, it said, to begin returning power to broader areas of the country.
The Communist-run government closed schools and non-essential industry early on Friday and sent most state workers home in a last-ditch effort to keep the lights on after weeks of severe power shortages. Recreational and cultural activities, including nightclubs, were also ordered closed.
But shortly before midday, the Antonio Guiteras power plant, the country's largest and most efficient, went offline, prompting a total grid failure and suddenly leaving the entire island without power.
Officials said late Friday they were working to fix the problem that had led the oil-fired plant to fail. They did not specify the cause of its collapse.
The blackout marks a new low point on an island where life has become increasingly unbearable, with residents suffering from shortages of food, fuel, water and medicine.
Virtually all commerce in Havana ground to a halt Friday. Many residents sat sweating on doorsteps. Tourists hunkered down in frustration. By nightfall, the city was almost completely enveloped in darkness.
"We went to a restaurant and they had no food because there was no power, now we are also without internet," said Brazilian tourist Carlos Roberto Julio, who had recently arrived in Havana. "In two days, we have already had several problems."
Prime Minister Manuel Marrero this week blamed worsening blackouts during the past several weeks on a perfect storm well-known to most Cubans - deteriorating infrastructure, fuel shortages and rising demand.
"The fuel shortage is the biggest factor," Marrero said in a televised message to the nation.
Strong winds that began with Hurricane Milton last week have crippled the island's ability to deliver scarce fuel from boats offshore to its power plants, officials said.
HAVANA —
Cuba restored a trickle of power to its grid by mid-evening Friday, officials said, hours after the island plunged into a countrywide blackout following the collapse of one of its major power plants.
The vast majority of the country's 10 million residents were still in the dark Friday night, but scattered pockets of the capital Havana, including some of the city's major hospitals, saw lights flicker back on shortly after dark.
Grid operator UNE said it hoped to restart at least five of its oil-fired generation plants overnight, providing enough electricity, it said, to begin returning power to broader areas of the country.
The Communist-run government closed schools and non-essential industry early on Friday and sent most state workers home in a last-ditch effort to keep the lights on after weeks of severe power shortages. Recreational and cultural activities, including nightclubs, were also ordered closed.
But shortly before midday, the Antonio Guiteras power plant, the country's largest and most efficient, went offline, prompting a total grid failure and suddenly leaving the entire island without power.
Officials said late Friday they were working to fix the problem that had led the oil-fired plant to fail. They did not specify the cause of its collapse.
The blackout marks a new low point on an island where life has become increasingly unbearable, with residents suffering from shortages of food, fuel, water and medicine.
Virtually all commerce in Havana ground to a halt Friday. Many residents sat sweating on doorsteps. Tourists hunkered down in frustration. By nightfall, the city was almost completely enveloped in darkness.
"We went to a restaurant and they had no food because there was no power, now we are also without internet," said Brazilian tourist Carlos Roberto Julio, who had recently arrived in Havana. "In two days, we have already had several problems."
Prime Minister Manuel Marrero this week blamed worsening blackouts during the past several weeks on a perfect storm well-known to most Cubans - deteriorating infrastructure, fuel shortages and rising demand.
"The fuel shortage is the biggest factor," Marrero said in a televised message to the nation.
Strong winds that began with Hurricane Milton last week have crippled the island's ability to deliver scarce fuel from boats offshore to its power plants, officials said.
A man drives during a massive blackout after a major power plant failed in Havana, Oct. 18, 2024.
Reduced fuel
Cuba's government also blames the U.S. trade embargo, as well as sanctions under then-President Donald Trump, for difficulties in acquiring fuel and spare parts to operate its oil-fired plants.
"The complex scenario is caused primarily by the intensification of the economic war and financial and energy persecution of the United States," Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel said on X on Thursday.
A White House National Security Council spokesperson said, "The United States is not to blame for today's blackout on the island, or the overall energy situation in Cuba."
A State Department official said late Friday that Washington was closely monitoring the potential humanitarian impact of the blackout but that the Cuban government had not requested assistance.
For many Cubans, far removed from politics and accustomed to regular power outages, the nationwide blackout was nothing more than a normal Friday night.
Carlos Manuel Pedre said he had defaulted to simple pleasures to pass the time.
"In the times we're living in, with everything happening in our country, the most logical entertainment is dominoes," he said as he played the popular game with friends. "We're in total crisis."
While demand for electricity has grown in recent years alongside Cuba's fledgling private sector, fuel supply has fallen sharply.
Cuba's largest oil supplier, Venezuela, has reduced shipments to the island to an average of 32,600 barrels per day in the first nine months of the year, barely half the 60,000 bpd sent in the same period of 2023, according to vessel-monitoring data and internal shipping documents from Venezuela's state company PDVSA.
PDVSA, whose refining infrastructure is also ailing, has this year tried to avoid a new wave of fuel scarcity at home, leaving smaller volumes available for export to allied countries like Cuba.
Russia and Mexico, which in the past have sent fuel to Cuba, have also greatly reduced shipments.
The shortfalls have left Cuba to fend for itself on the far costlier spot market at a time when its government is nearly bankrupt.
Reduced fuel
Cuba's government also blames the U.S. trade embargo, as well as sanctions under then-President Donald Trump, for difficulties in acquiring fuel and spare parts to operate its oil-fired plants.
"The complex scenario is caused primarily by the intensification of the economic war and financial and energy persecution of the United States," Cuban President Miguel Diaz-Canel said on X on Thursday.
A White House National Security Council spokesperson said, "The United States is not to blame for today's blackout on the island, or the overall energy situation in Cuba."
A State Department official said late Friday that Washington was closely monitoring the potential humanitarian impact of the blackout but that the Cuban government had not requested assistance.
For many Cubans, far removed from politics and accustomed to regular power outages, the nationwide blackout was nothing more than a normal Friday night.
Carlos Manuel Pedre said he had defaulted to simple pleasures to pass the time.
"In the times we're living in, with everything happening in our country, the most logical entertainment is dominoes," he said as he played the popular game with friends. "We're in total crisis."
While demand for electricity has grown in recent years alongside Cuba's fledgling private sector, fuel supply has fallen sharply.
Cuba's largest oil supplier, Venezuela, has reduced shipments to the island to an average of 32,600 barrels per day in the first nine months of the year, barely half the 60,000 bpd sent in the same period of 2023, according to vessel-monitoring data and internal shipping documents from Venezuela's state company PDVSA.
PDVSA, whose refining infrastructure is also ailing, has this year tried to avoid a new wave of fuel scarcity at home, leaving smaller volumes available for export to allied countries like Cuba.
Russia and Mexico, which in the past have sent fuel to Cuba, have also greatly reduced shipments.
The shortfalls have left Cuba to fend for itself on the far costlier spot market at a time when its government is nearly bankrupt.
Cuba’s electrical grid went offline Friday after one of the island’s major power plants failed, and as a massive blackout that started a day earlier swept across the Caribbean island.
Photo by: Ramon Espinosa/AP
A person drives a classic American car past a floating generator that has not been producing electricity for days in Havana, Cuba, Friday, Oct. 18, 2024.
By: AP via Scripps News
Oct 18, 2024
Cuba’s electrical grid went offline Friday after one of the island’s major power plants failed, and as a massive blackout that started a day earlier swept across the Caribbean island.
Cuba's energy ministry announced that the grid had gone down hours after the Antonio Guiteras thermoelectric plant had ceased operations, at about 11 a.m. local time. Authorities said at the time it was only offline temporarily.
Hours earlier, Prime Minister Manuel Marrero had sought to assuage concerned citizens about the outage that began Thursday evening. Millions of Cubans were left without power, prompting the government Friday to implement emergency measures to slash demand, including suspending classes, shutting down some state-owned workplaces and canceling non-essential services.
Various calls by The Associated Press seeking to clarify the extent of the blackout on Friday weren’t answered. In addition to the Antonio Guiteras plant, Cuba has several others and it wasn’t immediately clear whether or not they remain functional.
“We are devoting absolute priority to addressing and solving this highly sensitive energy contingency," Cuba's President Miguel Díaz-Canel wrote on X. “There will be no rest until its restoration.”
Cuban officials earlier said that 1.64 gigawatts went offline during peak hours early Thursday evening, about half the total demand at the time.
“The situation has worsened in recent days,” Marrero said in a special address on national television in the early hours of Friday. “We must be fully transparent ... we have been halting economic activities to ensure energy for the population.”
During his address, Marrero was accompanied by Alfredo López, the chief of UNE, who said the outage stemmed from increased demand from small- and medium-sized companies and residences’ air conditioners, as well as breakdowns in old thermoelectric plants that haven’t been properly maintained and the lack of fuel to operate some facilities.
Changes to electricity rates for small- and medium-sized companies, which have proliferated since they were first authorized by the communist government in 2021, are also being considered, Marrero said.
Marrero sought to placate people’s concerns about the outage, citing an expected influx of fuel supply from Cuba's state-owned oil company.
Even in a country accustomed to frequent outages amid a deepening economic crisis, the size of Thursday night’s blackout left millions of Cubans on edge. Residents shut their doors and windows they typically leave open at night, and candles or lanterns were visible inside their homes.
Copyright 2024 Scripps Media, Inc. All rights reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed.
Cuba declares an 'energy emergency' as blackouts leave citizens on edge
As the country suffers an economic crisis, problems stretch to electricity supply
Cubans sit and chat in the dark during a nationwide blackout on Friday.
Photo: AFP
Cuban Tania Ramirez walks alone along Havana's famous Malecon promenade to relieve the stress wrought by the massive blackout that has plunged the entire island into darkness.
"I feel very disappointed, frustrated and hopeless," said the 39-year-old housewife.
"It's not only the lack of electricity but also of gas and water," she told AFP, 11 hours after the unplanned shutdown of Cuba's main thermal power plant triggered the collapse of the country's grid.
With a frown, she said her "generation wants to continue trusting" in the 1959 revolution that brought Fidel Castro to power, but her "resilience has limits".
Cuba is in the throes of its worst economic crisis in 30 years, marked by sky-high inflation and shortages of food, medicine, fuel and water.
And for the past three months Cubans have been battling chronic blackouts that have become longer and more frequent.
Cuban authorities were trying since Friday night into Saturday to restore electricity.
The unexpected shutdown of the Antonio Guiteras power plant, the biggest of the island's eight decrepit coal-fired power plants, caused the national grid to fail, Lazaro Guerra, director general electricity at the Ministry of Energy and Mines, told state television.
When the power plant shut down, "the system collapsed," he said, adding that the government was working to restore service as soon as possible to the island's 11 million people.
By nightfall, the only lights illuminating the capital of two million people were those from hotels, hospitals and a few private businesses with their own generating plants.
The streets were almost empty, with no public transport and traffic lights out of service.
'It hurts a lot'
Small groups of people could be seen, their cell phones lit, chatting with family and friends. Some came out of their homes to cool off from the night heat, with temperatures hovering around 30 degrees Celsius (86 degrees Fahrenheit).
"We have a little baby girl and we live in a building that isn't in the best condition. We have to go downstairs and sit here," said self-employed Betsabe Valdes, 40, in the downtown Paseo del Prado.
Her biggest fear is that the food in her refrigerator could spoil if power is not restored soon. "It hurts me a lot," she said.
The grid collapsed a few hours after the government declared an "energy emergency" and announced the stoppage of business activities in the country.
Some provinces have in recent weeks endured up to 20 hours without electricity.
"What we want is electricity, not the explanation they give us," complained Pablo Reve, a 61-year-old teacher who took the blackout with less annoyance than others.
"Now we are playing dominoes and even laughing at our own luck," added Reve.
"To keep going forward is what we have left," he said with a sense of resignation.
By the end of Friday the power company had managed to restore a minimum level of supply with annexed "microsystems", which will be used to start up the thermal and floating plants.
"We have a well-defined strategy" and "we are complying with all the protocols to do it safely", said the energy minister Vicente de la O Levy.
To bolster its grid, Cuba has leased seven floating power plants from Turkish companies and also added many small diesel-powered generators.
But disappointed housewife Tania Ramirez was more pessimistic. "Solutions seem far away," she said, adding "no immediate improvement is in sight, quite the contrary."
Cuban Tania Ramirez walks alone along Havana's famous Malecon promenade to relieve the stress wrought by the massive blackout that has plunged the entire island into darkness.
"I feel very disappointed, frustrated and hopeless," said the 39-year-old housewife.
"It's not only the lack of electricity but also of gas and water," she told AFP, 11 hours after the unplanned shutdown of Cuba's main thermal power plant triggered the collapse of the country's grid.
With a frown, she said her "generation wants to continue trusting" in the 1959 revolution that brought Fidel Castro to power, but her "resilience has limits".
Cuba is in the throes of its worst economic crisis in 30 years, marked by sky-high inflation and shortages of food, medicine, fuel and water.
And for the past three months Cubans have been battling chronic blackouts that have become longer and more frequent.
Cuban authorities were trying since Friday night into Saturday to restore electricity.
The unexpected shutdown of the Antonio Guiteras power plant, the biggest of the island's eight decrepit coal-fired power plants, caused the national grid to fail, Lazaro Guerra, director general electricity at the Ministry of Energy and Mines, told state television.
When the power plant shut down, "the system collapsed," he said, adding that the government was working to restore service as soon as possible to the island's 11 million people.
By nightfall, the only lights illuminating the capital of two million people were those from hotels, hospitals and a few private businesses with their own generating plants.
The streets were almost empty, with no public transport and traffic lights out of service.
'It hurts a lot'
Small groups of people could be seen, their cell phones lit, chatting with family and friends. Some came out of their homes to cool off from the night heat, with temperatures hovering around 30 degrees Celsius (86 degrees Fahrenheit).
"We have a little baby girl and we live in a building that isn't in the best condition. We have to go downstairs and sit here," said self-employed Betsabe Valdes, 40, in the downtown Paseo del Prado.
Her biggest fear is that the food in her refrigerator could spoil if power is not restored soon. "It hurts me a lot," she said.
The grid collapsed a few hours after the government declared an "energy emergency" and announced the stoppage of business activities in the country.
Some provinces have in recent weeks endured up to 20 hours without electricity.
"What we want is electricity, not the explanation they give us," complained Pablo Reve, a 61-year-old teacher who took the blackout with less annoyance than others.
"Now we are playing dominoes and even laughing at our own luck," added Reve.
"To keep going forward is what we have left," he said with a sense of resignation.
By the end of Friday the power company had managed to restore a minimum level of supply with annexed "microsystems", which will be used to start up the thermal and floating plants.
"We have a well-defined strategy" and "we are complying with all the protocols to do it safely", said the energy minister Vicente de la O Levy.
To bolster its grid, Cuba has leased seven floating power plants from Turkish companies and also added many small diesel-powered generators.
But disappointed housewife Tania Ramirez was more pessimistic. "Solutions seem far away," she said, adding "no immediate improvement is in sight, quite the contrary."
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