Cuba’s national electricity grid collapsed yesterday, leaving the majority of its near 11-million citizens without power.
Grid operator UNE said it was still investigating the cause of the blackout, but the incident occurred less than two weeks after a sudden failure at the Antonio Guiteras thermoelectric plant, the island’s largest power station. This triggered a massive blackout stretching from Pinar del Río through central provinces, including Havana.
The country is currently facing a major economic crisis that has been worsened with the advent of US attacks on Venezuela and Iran. While the Iran conflict has seen oil prices spike all over the world, Venezuela was one of Cuba’s primary oil suppliers, and that supply has now been cut off as the US took control of the domestic sector. This leaves Mexico as its primary supplier, although the US is putting pressure on them to restrict shipments.
Cuba’s electricity system is dominated by a mix of ageing thermal plants, distributed diesel and...