For a lot of Cubans, the sudden cease of a fan is extra than simply an annoyance on a tropical island; it’s a day by day reminder of a vital, nation-wide drawback. On a mean day, the Cuban authorities can solely meet 50 to 70 p.c of its nation’s electrical energy wants. On high of that, Cuba’s whole grid has collapsed 4 instances within the final six months.
The issue stems from years of neglect of Cuba’s power infrastructure, exacerbated by constrained entry to international capital and a failure to adapt to new power choices. In consequence, Cubans are experiencing a big breakdown in primary companies, such because the storage of recent merchandise, primary meals preparation, public lighting and entry to companies. This has compelled residents to take extraordinary measures, like cooking a number of meals without delay and dealing by flashlight.
Cuba isn’t simply in an power disaster; the nation’s grid sits on the verge of systemic failure. The Nationwide Electrical System, most of which was constructed after 1959, hasn’t obtained the funding and upkeep it wants for 35 years—a consequence of Cuba’s complicated political and financial historical past. If neglect continues, the island nation can pay the excessive worth of additional financial decline, and elevated social and political instability.
How did my dwelling nation get right here?
Cuba’s Power Infrastructure Disaster
Cuba’s grid infrastructure is so weak that run-of-the-mill issues like transmission line failures and generator journeys are inflicting widespread outages. The surprising shutdown of the Antonio Guiteras oil-fired energy plant began the overall blackout in October 2024. Wholesome grids ought to be capable to detect and isolate these sorts of points, and supply backup via built-in redundancies. However Cuba’s previous safety programs couldn’t detect the faults and there weren’t sufficient spinning reserves to compensate for the technology instability, making restoration unattainable.
Underlying the blackouts are three systemic issues: years of insufficient funding, substandard gas, and deferred upkeep. Cuba’s growing old thermal energy vegetation—the spine of the system, almost all of which run on crude oil or gas oil—have gotten much less dependable, and should function nicely beneath capability due to gas shortages and corrosion. One of many largest, the 330-megawatt Antonio Guiteras plant in Matanzas, typically breaks down as a result of there aren’t sufficient alternative elements to restore it. Different amenities have been hit with antagonistic occasions, such the 2022 fires on the Lidio Ramón Pérez (Felton) and Máximo Gómez (Mariel) thermal vegetation. Throughout the first 5 months of 2025, solely 34 p.c of the capability of all of Cuba’s energy vegetation, based mostly on 2023 numbers, was accessible on a mean day by day foundation.
Cuba’s power system additionally suffers from years of reliance on home, poor-quality heavy crude oil, which is corrosive as a result of it’s excessive in sulfur. This has accelerated the wear and tear and tear on boilers, generators, and pipes in Cuba’s energy vegetation, shortening their lifespans and inflicting frequent and expensive outages. Cuba has secured a considerable quantity of oil from Venezuela since 2000 via a good settlement. However Venezuela’s steady financial issues have made this outdoors oil supply much less dependable, with shipments dwindling in recent times.
To assist compensate for energy deficits, Cuba in 2019 began renting floating thermal energy vegetation from different international locations reminiscent of Turkey’s Karpowership. By 2023, eight of those sorts of ships have been floating in Mariel Bay, Havana Bay and Santiago de Cuba Bay. However their destiny is now simply one other symptom of the disaster. The federal government had hassle paying the excessive leasing costs, so the ships’ operators withdrew from Cuba’s waters, taking a whole bunch of megawatts with them.
Cuba’s Renewable Power Choices
Heavy crude oil isn’t Cuba’s solely useful resource; it has a wealth of untapped renewable power choices, together with photo voltaic, wind, and doubtlessly sugarcane biomass. However the transition to renewables has progressed slowly and considerably haphazardly, regardless of formidable objectives set by the federal government.
Essential renewable power initiatives typically get delayed as a result of bureaucratic hurdles and an absence of funding. The instability of the grid makes it tougher to combine large-scale renewable power installations, as they require steady connections to operate successfully. And whereas the nation actively seeks photo voltaic power, it’s overlooking its once-thriving sugar sector, and the biomass and ethanol assets that include it.
The Cuban authorities’s puzzling determination to take a position closely in constructing costly accommodations and enhancing tourism infrastructure whereas neglecting crucial grid updates has additionally made the system extra weak. From 2010 and 2024, Cuba spent about 32 p.c of complete funding on tourism-related infrastructure, and solely 12 p.c on power infrastructure, in response to Cuba’s Nationwide Statistics Workplace.
Cuba’s economic system is in a poor state because of the well-established inefficiencies of its financial mannequin and U.S. sanctions that worsened below the primary Trump administration and stay largely in place. In consequence, the federal government lacks the required onerous foreign money to import gasoline, purchase the spare elements it wants, entry the newest expertise, and entice vital international funding that’s important for upgrading its power infrastructure.
Cuba’s Energy Outages and Rationing Breeds Resentment
The Cuban authorities reacts to its extreme deficit with placing public ceremony. Each morning, often between 7:00 and eight:00, officers overtly declare the anticipated electrical energy technology shortfall. Then, provincial leaders throughout the island painstakingly select which of their communities will lose energy and for the way lengthy—on common 19 hours, and a few over 24 hours.
Day by day electrical energy deficits in Cuba have averaged round 1600 MW in 2025, in response to knowledge compiled from day by day press releases from Unión Eléctrica (UNE), the state-owned firm liable for Cuba’s electrical energy system, and information shops. Knowledge from Cuba’s 4 latest grid collapses have been excluded.
Blackouts for these “interruptible circuits,” as provincial electrical corporations consult with them, are imagined to rotate based mostly on a schedule. However the precise electrical energy availability virtually all the time falls wanting the plan, so the rotation isn’t carried out as meant. And with sure companies and companies being prioritized for energy, a disproportionate share of the outages falls on a portion of consumers.
Havana, the capital, will get partly shielded from this, as a result of its political and financial significance. It’s a favoritism that understandably breeds resentment in different areas. However even in Havana, residents on interruptible circuits should cope with no less than 4 hours of energy outages day-after-day—a state of affairs that has worsened this yr.
In each town and the countryside, the facility outages and extended uncertainty have altered primary companies, economies and day by day life. Fridges lose their cooling energy, ruining helpful meals that was bought at a excessive worth. Companies should shut, leading to misplaced income and productiveness. College students battle to review when their telephone batteries are low, partly as a result of they use their telephones as flashlights. Some medical amenities have backup mills, however they’re not all the time operational as a result of an absence of spare elements. Web connectivity has grown much less dependable.
Cuba’s Restoration Plans
The Cuban administration has admitted that the state of affairs is extreme and has developed particular restoration plans. These embrace investing in thermal plant upkeep, including new capability, including photo voltaic power, and securing gas provides from overseas. Nonetheless, progress is gradual and restricted by the identical issues that brought on the disaster within the first place.
To repair the thermal models, it’s crucial to convey main electrical energy suppliers, reminiscent of Guiteras and Cienfuegos, again to a state the place they’ll function reliably once more. Nonetheless, this technique is akin to patching up a dam that’s falling aside. Lengthy-term enhancements are extra necessary than simply repairs, however they require assets that aren’t presently accessible.
There are insurance policies in place that encourage rooftop photo voltaic, which individuals generally purchase from different international locations. Small photo voltaic parks are additionally being constructed; on the finish of 2024 photo voltaic capability reached 298 MW. Pilot initiatives for wind farms are underway.
Angel Rodriguez makes use of a transformer from an previous tv to cost a battery in preparation for blackouts at his dwelling within the Bahia neighborhood of Havana, Cuba on Could 26, 2025.Ramon Espinosa/AP
However improvement lacks scale and pace. Massive initiatives typically battle with monetary constraints and insufficient planning. The federal government set a aim of deriving 37 p.c of Cuba’s power from renewable sources by 2030; up to now they’ve reached solely 3 p.c.
Cuba is actively seeking to associate internationally on power initiatives. Agreements with Russia primarily concentrate on modernizing present thermal amenities and probably developing new ones. Mexico and different allies have additionally helped by sending gas provides.
Talks with potential buyers for inexperienced initiatives are transferring ahead, however the funding local weather is kind of difficult due to Cuba’s financial mannequin and disaster, its historical past of defaults on funds to international corporations, and U.S. sanctions. In partnership with China, Cuba is constructing as much as 2,000 MW of photo voltaic capability over greater than 92 photo voltaic parks throughout the nation. China already despatched Cuba gear for greater than 100 MW of photo voltaic capability via a unique program. By January 2026, about 1,100 MW of this new capability is predicted to be operational, in response to the Cuban authorities.
As the first energy grid fails, Cubans with assets are taking issues into their very own fingers, typically in determined methods. Companies, hospitals, and rich households are putting in gasoline and photo voltaic mills; the incessant noise from which has change into a part of town’s soundscape. Some communities are working collectively to put in photo voltaic and battery programs. For instance, a farmers’ cooperative in Artemisa powers its processing and irrigation amenities this manner. These examples present a vital, bottom-up change, however they’re few and much between due to prohibitive upfront prices.
Cuba’s persons are struggling as a result of the power system is being pushed too far. And the excellent adjustments required for real, long-term restoration are presently past the island’s capabilities. The lights got here again on after every main blackout, however the specter of the subsequent one looms consistently.
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