Thanks to David who alerted me to this development. Cuba has experienced a complete collapse of its electrical grid. The entire island is now without power.
Officials in Cuba reported an island-wide blackout Monday in the country of some 11 million people as its energy and economic crises deepen...
The Ministry of Energy and Mines on X noted a “complete disconnection” of the country’s electrical system and said it was investigating.
Cuba has experienced multiple blackouts in the last few months, including one nearly two weeks ago which left a large part of the island without power. That particular blackout was caused by a failure at a particular power plant which took days to repair.
A failure at Cuba’s main thermoelectric plant has caused a massive blackout affecting two-thirds of the island, the Cuban government confirmed Wednesday. The partial collapse of the island’s National Electric System (SEN) — the second in a month — has left nearly 7 million of the island’s almost 10 million inhabitants without power. The outage is also affecting the capital, Havana.
It's not clear if today's collapse is the result of the same plant running out of fuel or if this has more to do with the plant itself being long past its expiration date.
William LeoGrande, a professor at American University who has tracked Cuba for years, said the country’s energy grid hasn’t been maintained properly and its infrastructure is “way past its normal useful life.”
“The technicians working on the grid are magicians to keep it running at all given the shape that it’s in,” LeoGrande said...
“And on top of all that, the Cuban government doesn’t have the hard currency to import spare parts or upgrade the plant or grid itself. It’s just a perfect storm of collapse,” LeoGrande said.
The Cuban energy union posted several statements on X about the outrage.
🔴 10:23 || Fuera de línea la Unidad 1 de la CTE Ernesto Guevara De La Serna por ponchadora en caldera. pic.twitter.com/nZkCYXtufO
— Unión Eléctrica de Cuba (@OSDE_UNE) March 16, 2026
10:23 || Unit 1 of the Ernesto Guevara De La Serna Power Plant is offline due to a tube rupture in the boiler.
#AHORA || Ocurrió una desconexión total del Sistema Electroenergético Nacional. Comienzan a implementarse los protocolos de restablecimiento.
— Unión Eléctrica de Cuba (@OSDE_UNE) March 16, 2026
👉 Continuaremos informando. pic.twitter.com/nZq5aakE3Y
#NOW || A total disconnection of the National Electric Power System has occurred. Restoration protocols are beginning to be implemented.
#IMPORTANTE || No se reportan averías en ninguna de las unidades térmicas que estaban en funcionamiento en el momento que ocurrió la desconexión del SEN. pic.twitter.com/KSe3zTvTzh
— Unión Eléctrica de Cuba (@OSDE_UNE) March 16, 2026
#IMPORTANT || No faults are reported in any of the thermal units that were in operation at the time the SEN disconnection occurred.
Sobre la desconexión del SEN, actualizamos:
— Unión Eléctrica de Cuba (@OSDE_UNE) March 16, 2026
👉 Ya comienzan a funcionar microsistemas en varios territorios del país.
👉 Energás ya tiene una Unidad generadora en servicio. pic.twitter.com/H7WfqfIleP
Regarding the disconnection of the SEN, we update: Microsystems are already beginning to operate in various territories of the country. Energás already has a generating Unit in service.
So my takeaway from all of that is that they don't know yet what happened but it seems the plants themselves weren't the cause. Whatever it was, we've known for weeks that these plants were running out of oil. Sooner or later this was bound to be the outcome. The only solution is to reach some kind of understanding with the Trump administration.
🚨 NOW: A TOTAL BLACKOUT just SLAMMED Cuba, the entire island has no virtually electricity as the country faces a US oil and energy blockade
— Eric Daugherty (@EricLDaugh) March 16, 2026
Cuba is about to FALL, Sec. Marco Rubio is watching! pic.twitter.com/XqcmDEtOVz
Cuba's blackouts have already led to nightly protests and over the weekend those protests escalated to an attack on the communist party offices in one city. No doubt this nationwide blackout could lead to more of that, especially if it drags on beyond tonight.
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