Cuba Grapples With Power Outages and Hurricane Oscar
Millions of residents and tourists in Cuba have been grappling without electricity for two days, as well as contending with Hurricane Oscar making landfall over the weekend.
Power Outage
Cuba’s energy grid was entirely offline by 18 October after one of the nation’s major power plants failed.
“The widespread blackout that swept across the country was the worst in years,” the Associated Press (AP) reported.
The power outage began the evening of 17 October, with losses limited to about half of the nation. After the initial crash on Friday, the grid collapsed three more times, according to Reuters.
Ultimately, the remaining half of the nation lost power the next morning in the fourth and final collapse when the Antonio Guiteras thermoelectric plant, which is located east of Havana, failed.
During peak hours, 1.64 gigawatts (roughly half the total demand) went offline, according to officials. The nation relies largely on imported fuel to generate power from its eight oil-fired power plants, and Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel blamed the protracted outages on the U.S. trade embargo, which has lasted more than 60 years. The United States has denied a role in the grid failures.
Local authorities said that the outages were triggered by increased demand from residential air conditioners and medium-sized and small companies. Not only was there not enough fuel to operate some facilities that support the grid, but the outages worsened this time because of aging components in the thermoelectric plants, which lack proper maintenance, according to the AP.
Whie the occasional outage is not unheard of in Cuba, a complete grid failure was unprecedented in modern times, granting exceptions due to powerful storms, like hurricanes, the AP explained. The country dealt with a similar power failure in 2022 after Hurricane Ian, which damaged electrical infrastructure and took days to repair.
In response to the total outages, the government announced emergency measures to drastically decrease demands on the grid, including closing some state-owned workplaces, suspending classes for schools and universities, and ceasing nonessential services.
Although an estimated 90 percent of Havana has had power restored as of 21 October, other parts of Cuba still lack power. The state-owned power company UNE was using distributed generation to deliver power to parts of the country, plus a gas-fired thermoelectric plant has begun operations, according to officials.
The lack of electricity not only impacts lighting, but also other crucial services like water supplies. In areas that remain without power, residents have begun protesting, banging on cookware and chanting. In San Miguel de Padron, a poor neighborhood on the outskirts of Havana, these cacerolazos (protests in Latin America that feature pot-banging) were stoked by shortages of food, water, and, or course, electricity, Reuters reported.
In Cuba, unauthorized protests are banned and those participating in unauthorized protests face jailtime.
Hurricane Oscar
Exacerbating frustrations was Hurricane Oscar, which made landfall on Cuba late on 20 October, arriving as a Category 1 storm. Despite the storm weakening as it moved across land, Cuban authorities reported that there were at least six deaths linked to Oscar.
The hurricane also damaged homes’ roofs and walls, as well as downing electricity poles and trees. The province of Guantánamo was subjected to the worst of the storm, with more than 1,000 reports of damaged homes, according to the BBC.
Díaz-Canel said that as of the morning of 22 October, some areas remain inaccessible but rescue workers are still trying to reach people in those regions.
All six reported deaths occurred in the town of San Antonio del Sur, which was also heavily hit by Oscar and experienced significant flooding.