Breaking News: A new failure at the Nuevitas thermoelectric plant extends blackouts to half of Cuba.

The latest outage further exacerbates the island's power outages, which had already peaked the previous day.

A new breakdown at unit 6 of the Diez de Octubre Thermoelectric Plant in Nuevitas (Camagüey) has exacerbated the island's energy crisis, right in the middle of the school holiday week, when thousands of children and families are staying home. The plant, one of the most deteriorated in the country, had already suffered a similar failure on April 4, and this is its second breakdown in less than two weeks.

The block's withdrawal implies 100 MW less generation, in a context in which the national electricity system was already operating at its limit.

Cuba darkens as thermoelectric plants collapse

The official report of the Electric Union (UNE) reported on Thursday, April 17 that, in addition to this new breakdown, units 2 in Santa Cruz del Norte, units 3 and 4 in Cienfuegos, and units 5 and 6 in Renté remain down for maintenance. Additionally, unit 2 of the Felton Thermoelectric Plant has been out of service since the fire that destroyed its boiler in 2022.

The situation is worsened by the shutdown of 69 distributed generation plants, which provided 614 MW, and by the fuel shortage, which is also affecting fuel oil engines in Moa and Mariel, with an additional loss of 218 MW. Added to this is the 54 MW that is unavailable due to a shortage of lubricants.

The country in the dark: up to half of Cuba without electricity

Last Wednesday, the blackouts were continuous throughout the day, reaching a peak impact of 1.742 MW at 8:20 p.m., right at the peak demand hour.

By Thursday the 17th, the UNE forecast a disruption of up to 1.701 MW, as national demand is around 3.400 MW and available generation does not exceed 1.769 MW. This means that around half the island could be simultaneously without power at night.

Meanwhile, the eight new photovoltaic solar parks, recently inaugurated, contributed just 1.013,6 MWh, a positive figure but still far from solving the structural problem of the Cuban energy system.