Cuba’s massive power outage extends into the weekend

Cuba lost power across the nation on Friday after a major power plant failed, according to the country’s energy ministry. Blackouts have been a recurring problem for Cuba’s aging power grid, the New York Times reported, noting the country has lacked fuel to run the gird fully for weeks.

Its national electricity system was completely disconnected at 11:00AM local time, the energy ministry posted on X. By around 4:00, the ministry reported that it was able to get micro power grid systems running in some areas, and restoration continued throughout the evening and on Friday night.

Early Saturday morning, Cuban energy minister Vicente de la O Levy said that two thermoelectric plants were starting up and there were 500MW of power in the system already.

However, according to a post made just before 7AM by CNN’s Havana bureau chief Patrick Oppman, the island is now experiencing another nationwide power outage.

The night before, officials had asked residents to curb their electricity use and announced that schools and nonessential businesses would close, The Washington Post reports. Prime Minister Manuel Marrero said the country would need to “paralyze” its economy amid an energy crisis.

Authorities say they are working to get the Antonio Guiteras power plant up and running again after it went offline Friday morning as the island-wide outage began. It’s the nation’s largest power plant, according to Reuters.

The country’s energy emergency is the result of US sanctions making it difficult to import fuel, President Miguel Díaz-Canel said on X on Thursday. Cuba typically gets a lot of fuel from Venezuela. But both countries face US sanctions, falling fuel supplies, and economic crises.

Update, October 19th, 2024: Noted restoration efforts and report of a second nationwide outage.