Cuba works to restore electricity service after second network collapse

Cuba’s government said it was working again to restore electrical service across the island after state media reported Saturday that the national grid had collapsed for the second time in 24 hours.

The country’s top electricity official, Lázaro Guerra, said on a morning television news program that another grid failure in western Cuba had forced technicians to start again connecting three major power plants to the system, which temporarily halted progress.

“I cannot assure that we will be able to complete the connection of the system today, but we do estimate that there should be important progress,” Guerra said.

Just before the declaration of war, CubaDebateone of the island’s state media outlets, said that the network operator, UNE, had reported a “total disconnection of the national electrical system“.

Guerra did not directly confirm the total collapse, leaving some confusion about what exactly had happened.

Cuba’s power grid first failed around noon on Friday after one of the island’s largest power plants shut down, suddenly leaving more than 10 million people without power.

Even before the grid collapse, a power outage on Friday had forced Cuba’s communist government to send non-essential state workers home and cancel school classes for children, in a bid to conserve fuel for generation. of energy.

But lights began flickering in some spots scattered across the island early Friday night, offering some hope that power would be restored.

Cuba’s government has attributed weeks of increasingly severe blackouts — often 10 to 20 hours a day across much of the island — to deteriorating infrastructure, fuel shortages and rising demand.

Strong winds that began with Hurricane Milton last week had also complicated the island’s ability to deliver scarce fuel from offshore ships to power its power plants, officials have said.

Fuel deliveries to the island have decreased significantly this year, as Venezuela, Russia and Mexico, once key suppliers, have reduced their exports to Cuba.

Venezuela, a key ally, halved its subsidized fuel deliveries to Cuba this year, forcing the island to look elsewhere for much more expensive oil on the spot market.

The Cuban government also blames the United States trade embargo, as well as then-President Donald Trump’s sanctions, for the current difficulties in acquiring fuel and spare parts to operate and maintain its oil plants.

On Friday, the United States denied any role in the Cuban network collapse.

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