A failure in high voltage lines of 220 kilovolts in Cuba left the center and east of the island without electricity, according to the presidency on Twitter this Monday (13).
According to the state-owned Unión Eléctrica (UNE), seven of Cuba’s 15 provinces were left without electricity after midday: Ciego de Ávila, Camagüey, Las Tunas, Granma, Holguín, Santiago de Cuba and Guantánamo.
The Ministry of Energy and Mines confirmed on social networks that the cause of the incident “was a fire in a sugarcane field in the region”, as the holder of this portfolio, Vicente de la O Levy, had hypothesized shortly before.
The folder also indicated that “they are working on restoring the system”, which “will take between four and five hours”.
The network failure, as described by the UNE, occurred between Sancti Spíritus and the municipality of Nuevitas (Camagüey).
This cut in supply is one of the biggest since last September 27, when a moment of “zero generation” of electricity was reached after the passage of Hurricane Ian, which left the island in complete darkness.
Since then, blackouts have decreased significantly, mainly from the second half of December, and remained at lower levels in the first weeks of 2023, with affectations below 10% at peak times.
The Cuban energy system is in a precarious situation, as evidenced last year, when blackouts were daily and prolonged, reaching 12 hours a day in some regions. The effects reached nearly 40% of the country at times.
Among the causes of this situation are the age of the eight onshore thermoelectric plants in the country – with an average of more than 40 years of use -, the deficit of investments in the national energy system and the lack of fuel for the plants.
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