Cuba says it was generating only enough electricity to cover about a sixth of peak demand late Wednesday, hours after its national grid collapsed leaving millions without power.
The National Electricity Union (UNE) said it was producing 533 megawatts of electricity by the evening, still just a fraction of the normal dinnertime demand of between 3,000 and 3,200 megawatts, leaving most of Cubans in the dark as night fell across the Caribbean island.
Earlier, the communist-run government said it would prioritize the return of power to hospitals and water pumping facilities. Schools and non-essential government services have been closed until further notice.
Lights went out over parts of the capital Havana late Wednesday. The local electric company said more than 260,000 customers had seen power restored.
It was the latest in a series of nationwide blackouts of Cuba's antiquated and increasingly fragile power generation system. This year, Cuba's grid collapsed almost completely, weighed down by fuel shortages, natural disaster and economic crisis.
Declining including oil from Venezuela, Russia and Mexico pushed the island's outdated and struggling oil power plants into full crisis several months ago.
Hour-long blackouts and severe shortages of food, medicine and water have made life more difficult for many Cubans, who have fled the island in recent years in large numbers. height
Cuba blames US sanctions, which complicate financial transactions and fuel purchases, for the crisis.
Blackout caused by power plant failure
Wednesday morning's blackout was triggered by a failure at the Antonio Guiteras power plant in Matanzas, which shut down around 2 a.m. local time.
Several other major power plants were under maintenance and were offline when the Matanzas plant failed, starving the electricity grid and leading to blackouts across the country, the energy minister said.
Havana residents took to the streets Monday night to demand that something be done about the ongoing blackouts after the country's power grid failed several times, leaving the country in darkness.
Havana hotel worker Danielis Mora woke up confused and confused, like many Havana residents who now experience regular blackouts.
“I didn't know it was a complete blackout again,” Mora said. “Where I live… there is no gas either, if there is no electricity there is no way to cook, it has to be with firewood or charcoal.”
Scattered protests have erupted over the past two months about repeated power failures as well as shortages of water, gas and food.
Cuba's shrinking grid collapsed and old age many times in October as fuel supplies dwindled and Hurricane Oscar hit the east end of the island, and again in November when Hurricane Rafael moved.
The Cuban government last week issued a decree ordering state and private industries to generate more of their own electricity from renewable resources.
The rules also require businesses to limit their use of air conditioning – among other measures – as the country grapples with an increasingly dire energy crisis.
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