Cuba national power grid collapses

• 2 months ago (2026-03-17)
• David Flin

Latin America 102 Transmission 242

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Cuba’s Unión Eléctrica (UNE) has announced that the nation’s power grid suffered a total grid on 16 March, with the whole island being subjected to a blackout. UNE, the state power utility, said that efforts are underway to restore power.

UNE said that the national energy system had already been under strain as a result of a generation deficit. On 16 March, Cuba only had 1.14 GW capacity available to meet a demand of 2.35 GW. The capacity deficit of over 1.2 GW triggered a widespread blackout.

An emergency plan to restore power has started. This began with the startup of the 80 MW Unit 4 at the Cienfuegos plant. UNE said that restoration of power will be a gradual process as workers struggle to bring generation facilities back online amid fuel shortages and aging infrastructure.