Cuba Faces Widespread Blackout After Antonio Guiteras Plant Breakdown
Key Takeaways
- Boiler fault at Antonio Guiteras plant caused a widespread western and central Cuba blackout.
- Disconnection from the National Electric System left Havana and western-central provinces without power.
- UNE confirmed the outage and attributed it to the plant's malfunction.
Catastrophic Blackout
Cuba plunged into darkness after a critical failure at the Antonio Guiteras thermoelectric plant, the nation's largest generating unit.
The plant went offline due to a boiler crack that triggered cascading disconnections affecting nearly two-thirds of the island.
The outage occurred just days after the Guiteras plant had resumed operation.
Pérez Castañeda estimated repairs could take 72 hours or longer.
Structural Energy Crisis
The Guiteras breakdown deepened an energy crisis ballooning since Venezuela halted shipments.
Cuban thermoelectric plants average over 40 years of age, far exceeding their 25-year design life.
Service interruptions hit 64% of the territory during peak hours.
The sudden loss of Guiteras pushed the deficit beyond sustainable limits.
Blackout Impacts
The blackout caused immediate disruptions beyond electricity.
Cuba's state-run Radio and Television signals were interrupted across multiple provinces.
Some residents responded by installing solar panels to maintain power.
By March 5 the National Electric Power System was reconnected though capacity remained limited.
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