Cuba slowly starts restoring power after island-wide blackout
Cuba restored a trickle of power to its grid by mid-evening on Friday, officials said, hours after the island plunged into a countrywide blackout following the collapse of one of its major power plants.
Cuba restored a trickle of power to its grid by mid-evening on Friday, officials said, hours after the island plunged into a countrywide blackout following the collapse of one of its major power plants.
The vast majority of the country’s 10 million residents were still in the dark on Friday night, but scattered pockets of the capital Havana, including some of the city’s major hospitals, saw lights flicker back on shortly after dark.
Grid operator UNE said it hoped to restart at least five of its oil-fired generation plants overnight, providing enough electricity, it said, to begin returning power to broader areas of the country.
The Communist-run government closed schools and non-essential industry early on Friday and sent most state workers home in a last-ditch effort to keep the lights on after weeks of severe power shortages. Recreational and cultural activities, including night clubs, were also ordered closed.
But shortly before midday, the Antonio Guiteras power plant, the country’s largest and most efficient, went offline, prompting a total grid failure and suddenly leaving the entire island without power.
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