2024-10-18 19:13:00
The nationwide power supply collapsed in Cuba on Friday. According to the Ministry of Energy and Mines, the Antonio Guiteras power plant – the largest in the country – failed shortly before noon. According to the communist country’s authorities, it was initially unclear how long the blackout would last. We will not rest until the supply is restored, wrote President Miguel Diaz-Canel on the short message service X.
Around midday, virtually all business activity came to a standstill in the capital Havana. The sound of generators came from some apartments and restaurants.
There have recently been repeated extensive power cuts on the Caribbean island with around ten million people. Some Cubans were without electricity for more than twelve hours a day. On Friday morning, the government closed schools and universities until next week as a precautionary measure. Only civil servants from state-owned food companies and health facilities should even come to work. Nightclubs were not allowed to open and cultural events were canceled.
Prime Minister Manuel Marrero, in a delayed televised speech on Thursday, blamed three factors for the energy problems: dilapidated infrastructure, insufficient fuel deliveries and increasing demand. “Fuel shortage is the biggest factor,” he said. According to official information, the country’s two largest power plants, Felton and the now damaged Antonio Guiteras, are in urgent need of maintenance and are producing less electricity than planned. The government blames the US embargo, which has been in place for decades, for difficulties in obtaining spare parts and fuel.
According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), a good 80 percent of Cuba’s electricity supply comes from oil. Heavy seas recently prevented fuel from being delivered to the power plants by water. Authorities say better weather should ease this problem in the coming days. However, the basic supply situation remains unresolved. The biggest supplier, Venezuela, is struggling to avoid shortages at home and delivered an average of about 32,600 barrels of oil per day (bpd) to Cuba in the first nine months of the year. That’s roughly half as much as the 60,000 bpd in the same period last year. Russia and Mexico have also reduced their deliveries.
1729280166
#Cuba #reports #nationwide #power #outage #SN.at
