Technicians face difficulties in resolving a “complex situation”
14ymedio, Havana, 16 March 2025 –The few lights that were on in Havana at sunset this Saturday looked more like phantoms in a cemetery than a capital city. From the Loma de la Cruz in Guanabacoa, where a reporter from this newspaper photographed the dark panorama, a few lights marked the port area and the Naval Hospital, privileged – like the hotels – for having their own generators.
At dawn this Sunday, darkness still dominated part of the city. The neighbors “go crazy looking for ice because their food will spoil,” a resident in the Luyanó neighborhood told this newspaper. Those who do not have their own generator have also faced difficulties cooking and, in many cases, the water supply has been suspended. “There are hardly any people on the streets and no cars,” the woman says.
According to the Unión Eléctrica (UNE), it has been possible to connect some areas of several Havana municipalities, but, as this newspaper verified, the restoration of electricity service in homes has been unstable and has been interrupted on several occasions. In the neighborhood of Nuevo Vedado, where the newsroom of 14ymedio is located, only some ministries and official entities have electricity.
At the end of Saturday, Lázaro Guerra, who from his position as UNE director has become a bearer of bad news for Cubans, assured that the UNE had managed to connect a “broad system of islands” from Matanzas to Holguín and that it began with Energas Varadero. The west and east were in a “complex situation,” he said. In the case of the first, the failed entry of the Energas Boca de Jaruco plant had slowed down the connection on several occasions.
This plant, managed in collaboration with the Canadian Sherritt, is the main link in the synchronization and conformation of the so-called microsystems in the western region, with which power is then brought to the thermoelectric plants Antonio Guiteras (Matanzas), Mariel (Artemisa) and Santa Cruz del Norte (Mayabeque).
“We have the floating power plant in Havana (the Turkish patana works with fuel oil), which is delivering a level of electricity here in the capital, and we are looking for alternatives to be able to reach the most important generation centers, such as Mariel’s,” added the engineer, who said that the “problem has a solution,” although it may take time. “Microsystems are in themselves weak systems, and there is always the possibility that something can happen and involve a delay or a setback.”
Outside the capital, in Pinar del Río and Artemisa, some small islands are responsible for giving electricity to “vital centers,” Guerra added. During the last failures of the SEN, which coincided with the passage of Hurricane Rafael through Artemisa, this province was the most affected and the last to recover electricity.
As for the eastern provinces, the manager explained that microsystems had been established in Guantánamo, Santiago de Cuba and Granma, but none had been able to connect to the main Matanzas-Holguín network. This Sunday, units 5 and 6 of the Nuevitas thermoelectric power plant were integrated, and unit 1 of Felton, in Holguín, managed to enter the national electrical system (SEN) during the early hours.
The authorities have not dared, nor did they do so in the three total blackouts of October, November and December, to predict a date for the SEN’s restoration, but the cancellation of classes at the universities confirms that the situation is expected to extend at least until Monday. In a statement on Saturday night, the Ministry of Higher Education postponed the entry of national and foreign scholarship students to residences until further notice.
The authorities have not announced anything for other education levels, although some local governments have delayed the entry of students in pre-university scholarships pending the reconnection of the SEN.
In the three previous national blackouts, the UNE began by reactivating microsystems – powered by large generators that use fuel oil or diesel – and interconnecting them to bring power to the thermoelectric plants. Every time the SEN has collapsed, like last Friday, the authorities allege lack of fuel to keep it afloat. On this occasion, however, the shortage of fuel oil or diesel is difficult to justify.
A few weeks ago, two diesel-loaded tankers entered Cuban ports, the Marlin Aventurine from France with 340,000 barrels, and the Corossol from Rotterdam, with 650,000 barrels. In addition, the Akademik Gubkin arrived with 790,000 barrels of high-quality Russian oil to be processed in Cuban refineries.
Translated by Regina Anavy
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