Cuba's government said it was working again to restore power to the entire island after state media reported early Saturday that the national power grid had collapsed for the second time in 24 hours.
Lazaro Guerra, the country's top electricity authority, said on a morning TV news show that a new power grid failure has occurred in western Cuba, and engineers are renewing efforts to reconnect three important power plants to the grid. He said progress had been temporarily stalled.
A power plant failure in Cuba shuts down the entire island, plunging millions into darkness.
“While we cannot guarantee that we will be able to complete linking the systems today, we estimate that we should make significant progress today,” Guerra said.
A man organizes his medicine at home after state media reported early Saturday that the national power grid collapsed for the second time in 24 hours in Havana, Cuba, on October 19, 2024. (Reuters/Noris Perez)
Shortly before Guerra's statement, Cuba Debate, one of the island's state media outlets, reported that grid operator UNE had reported “a complete disconnection of the country's electrical energy system.”
Guerra did not directly confirm the complete collapse, so confusion remains about what exactly happened.
Cuba's power grid lost power for the first time around noon on Friday after one of the island's largest power plants went offline, suddenly leaving more than 10 million people without power.
Even before the grid collapsed, Friday's power shortage prompted the communist-run Cuban government to send non-essential state workers home and cancel children's school classes to conserve fuel for power generation. was forced to cancel.
But lights began flashing in scattered areas across the island early Friday evening, giving some hope that power would be restored.
The Cuban government blames aging infrastructure, fuel shortages and increased demand for weeks of worsening power outages across much of the island, often lasting 10 to 20 hours a day.
Strong winds that began with last week's Hurricane Milton are also complicating the island's ability to transport scarce fuel from offshore boats to supply power plants, officials said.
Fuel supplies to the island have fallen sharply this year as former major suppliers Venezuela, Russia and Mexico cut back on exports to Cuba.
Venezuela, a key ally, cut Cuba's subsidized fuel supplies in half this year, forcing Cuba to look elsewhere for crude oil, which is much more expensive on the spot market.
CLICK HERE TO GET THE FOX NEWS APP
The Cuban government also blamed continued difficulties in obtaining the fuel and spare parts needed to operate and maintain oil-fired power plants due to the U.S. embargo and sanctions under then-President Donald Trump. He blames it.
The United States on Friday denied any involvement in Cuba's power grid collapse.
