Partial grid failure hits Havana as energy crisis deepens

Cuba said it had reconnected its electrical grid and was gradually restoring power after a partial collapse on Wednesday left capital Havana and much of western Cuba in the dark, the latest incident in an energy crisis that has left millions suffering from prolonged blackouts for months.

Top energy officials said a main transmission line connecting Havana with the country’s largest power plant in Matanzas failed around 5 a.m. (10:00 GMT), but that workers had restored power to approximately 40 per cent of the capital city by midday.

At least four western provinces, from Pinar del Rio to Mayabeque, lost power early on Wednesday, officials said, though all had been reconnected to the grid within hours of the outage.

Even before Wednesday’s incident, much of Cuba was already experiencing daily blackouts extending as much as 20 hours or more. Havana, once protected from the brunt of outages, now regularly faces ten hours or more without electricity each day.

Officials warned a generation shortfall — today approximately two-thirds of demand even after repairing transmission lines — means regular blackouts will continue.

Havana’s ocean-front skyline was dark before sunrise, with only scattered hotels and hospitals lit with generators. Cell phone service was intermittent, and street and stop lights shut off.

(Reuters)