Eastern Cuba power restored after grid failure

Power was restored in eastern Cuba on Saturday several hours after a partial grid failure caused an outage, the national power company said.

Union Electrica de Cuba said the “partial disconnection” of the national grid in the eastern region was over. Nearly three hours earlier, the company had said a failure on the line linking Nuevitas to Tunas province had sparked the outage. It did not say how many provinces were affected.

Cuba, a country of 9.4 million people, has suffered repeated power outages, with rolling blackouts lasting up to 20 hours a day. The outages also affect water supply and telephone services.

The country’s power problems are due in part to ageing energy infrastructure, with power plants in disrepair and needing weeks of maintenance. Union Electrica de Cuba says fuel shortages make the network more vulnerable to outages.

Fuel deliveries needed to keep backup generators running have also been complicated by a US pressure campaign that has effectively cut off oil supply to Cuba since January.

Cuba has had seven nationwide blackouts since the start of the year and a dozen since late 2024. The government launched a major solar-panel installation programme two years ago with China’s backing. Official data says renewable sources account for 21 percent of Cuba’s energy mix.