The causes of the power blackout in Cuba

The principal cause of the October 18-October 21 power outage in Cuba is the intensification of the U.S. economic, commercial, and financial blockade against Cuba, initiated by the Trump administration as one front in an economic, ideological, and political war against leading anti-imperialist countries, and continued by the Biden administration.  The new front implements previously enacted U.S. legislation that targets companies and banks in third countries that have transactions with Cuba, and it threatens fines and other sanctions on companies and banks throughout the world, using its absurd inclusion of Cuba on a list of countries that supposedly sponsor terrorism.  The front is defended with the pretext that the Cuban government is authoritarian, a claim that is at least partially believed by the majority of the American people, because of widespread unawareness of Cuban reality.  The new front ruptured Cuban relations with many international commercial and financial partners.  It has led to a decline in Cuban production, due to shortages in supplies and materials necessary for agricultural, pharmaceutical, and light industrial production for both domestic consumption and exportation.  With respect to the generation of electricity, the intensification of the blockade has meant that parts and supplies necessary for the maintenance of aging thermoelectric power plants could not be obtained.

Cuban President explains economic crisis

CHARLES MCKELVEY

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MAY 17

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An emergency energy plan announced on October 17

     The primary immediate cause of the blackout was the lack of fuel oil that the thermoelectric power plants require.  The lack of fuel oil was announced to the nation in a special television news program on Thursday, October 17, the evening before the system’s collapse, by Prime Minister Manuel Marrero Cruz and Edrey Rocha González, general director of the Cuba Petroleum Union (CUPET).  Rocha González explained fuel oil should have been delivered on October 9, but the delivery was delayed due to bad weather, and it did not arrive to the country until October 14.  Now docked in Matanzas, the ship will proceed to Havana and Mariel when weather permits.  Another oil ship is docked in Moa.  He declared that the situation would improve when the fuel oil is delivered to the thermoelectric plants.   

     Secondary immediate causes reviewed by the Prime Minister are the aging state of the infrastructure, with the lack of necessary parts and supplies for maintenance, and the increase in demand.  During the Thursday evening news special, Alfredo López Valdés, general director of the Electricity Union, reported that demand has grown as a result of new economic actors in the private sector, which has caused, for example, the importation of more than 100,000 air conditioners.  A plan for the regulation of temperatures in the places of the new economic actors will be emitted, which will include the promotion of self-generating electricity in establishments.

     The Prime Minister announced emergency measures, including incentives for remote work, with only indispensable personnel in places of work; the disconnection of high-consuming equipment such as refrigerators during peak hours; the suspension of all services not vital for the generation of electricity, excepting services in vital centers like hospitals and places that prepare and distribute food; and the suspension of cultural activities, discotheques, and recreational centers.  The Ministry of Education has decided to suspend all teaching activities from Friday through Sunday, the Prime Minister reported.  (With the arrival of Hurricane Oscar, these emergency measures have been extended to Sunday, October 27).

     The Prime Minister also announced a program to confront the situation of the electrical system, which will be led by Vice-Prime Minister Ramiro Valdés Menéndez.  The program envisions the progressive recuperation of the thermoelectric system by means of the increase of production of national crude oil and the increasing use of renewable sources of energy, thus eliminating the dependency of the national electrical system on the importation of fuel oil.

“Power blackout in Cuba: A chronicle from central Havana,” October 22, 2024

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Collapse and re-establishment of the system, October 18-October 22

     On Friday, October 18, the Antonio Guiteras thermoelectric plant, located in Matanzas, went out of service at 11:00 a.m., suddenly generating zero electricity, which provoked the immediate collapse of the national electrical system.

The roots of the problem lie in the illegal US 62-year old embargo. Washington absolutely has no legitimate right to apply worldwide sanctions on Cuba, or any other country, for that matter, but it does by virtue of its "exceptionalist" hegemonic power, fortunately now in decline. 

     Miguel Castro, Professor at the Technological University of Havana, explained on social media that the total collapse of electrical systems (also called blackouts) is not common, but it occurs.  The Spanish-language version of Wikipedia reports famous one-day blackouts in India in 2012 and 2001, affecting 700 million persons and 230 million persons, respectively.  An eleven-day blackout in Brazil and Paraguay affected sixty-seven million persons.  And a fourteen-day blackout in 2003 in the northeastern United States and Canada affected fifty million persons.  The 1977 two-day blackout in New York City affected nine million persons; it provoked mass looting, damage to stores, and fires, and it led to 3,776 arrests in a single night.  Wikipedia lists more than thirty blackouts in the world of more than eleven days.

     In electro-energetic systems, Miguel Castro explains, the generation has to be equal to the demand in each instant; this necessary balance of power is often attained automatically by means of control devices.  When the balance is not attained for any reason, the system rapidly collapses, without the possibility of human intervention to impede it.  The re-establishment takes many days, because to generate electricity, electricity is needed.  As an island nation, Cuba cannot readily obtain electricity from a neighboring national electrical system, so it is necessary to create small microsystems.  An isolated microsystem is very vulnerable, and any minimal event (such as an increase in demand or a short circuit in the network) can cause collapse, and one must begin again.  So the microsystems have to be joined with each other (synchronized), giving them the necessary robustness.

     Following the collapse of the electrical system on Friday, October 18, the Electricity Union immediately went to work creating microsystems (“islands”) around thermoelectric plants in various regions of the country.  This process was aided by the distribution of fuel oil in the country on Saturday, increasing generating capacity.  However, several efforts to synchronize the microsystems into a national system failed.  So it was decided on Sunday to create three regional systems, in the western, central, and eastern regions of the country.  By Monday, the three regional systems were attained and consolidated, including the system of Havana.  On Tuesday afternoon, October 22, the three regional systems were successfully synchronized, constituting the re-establishment of the national electrical system. 

     The national system is now operating with stability.  The Electricity Union reports that the system is more robust than it was immediately prior to the collapse, because of the greater availability of fuel oil at present, and because there are more generators now in operation.  However, the system continues to function without energy in reserve.  The Electricity Union calculates each day how much megawattage there is in relation to demand, and it implements planned cuts in service in particular localities for a few hours to ensure the continuation of the electrical service. 

     But the future is not dark.  Expansion in photovoltaic energy, already in process, combined with the increased national production of crude oil, will enable the system to attain energy sovereignty and stability without depending on the importation of fuel oil, the availability of which is shaped by imperialist sanctions and international conditions.

     The threat posed by the blackout has been contained, as a result of the dedicated day-and-night work of the electrical workers, accompanied by the Cuban people, who supported each other in difficult conditions, living without electrical service and water, and who passed on the opportunity to participate in politically immature protest. 

     The leadership and the people of Cuba have overcome the blackout of 2024, by their own account and their own resources.

The Prime Minister and the President in San Antonio del Sur, Guantanamo, in their roles as civil defense officers.  Photo: Estudios Revolución/Granma.

Hurricane Oscar

     Hurricane Oscar struck the eastern province of Guantanamo on Monday, October 21.  It caused extensive damage from winds and flooding.  Houses were destroyed, and five lives were lost, including a child.  In spite of the economic and energy crises, no one in Cuba has been waiting for international humanitarian aid.  All of Cuba is mobilized to come to the aid of Guantanamo, and especially the hard-hit town of San Antonio del Sur, headed by Cuban President and Party secretary Miguel Díaz-Canel and Prime Minister Carrero Cruz.  Cuban civil defense units, organizations of workers and students, and brigades of electrical workers have been mobilized, delivering food, water and provisions and participating in the reconstruction.  The Union of Communist Youth has organized nearly 200 youth brigades that are arriving in the eastern province.  Units of the Revolutionary Armed Forces are playing a central role, transporting sick persons and pregnant women by helicopter to hospitals in nearby provinces as well as relocating people whose houses were destroyed and constructing new access routes to replace roads and bridges that have been washed away.  These activities have been accompanied by countless messages of solidarity from across the island. 

     In these days of power failure and natural disaster, it can be observed that the people feel themselves to be the protagonists in their story.  Moved by solidarity, the people have once again risen to the challenge, demonstrating that they are a revolutionary people.  The fundamental teaching of Fidel, that “no one has the right to lose faith in the future of humanity,” is written in their hearts.