Massive Blackout: Santiago de Cuba Reconnects to National Electric Grid

This past Sunday at 5:27 am, Santiago de Cuba province partially restored its connection to the National Electric System (SEN), albeit most of its residents remain without power. Currently, a mere 43.6 MW is available for electrical service, benefiting a total of 127,842 customers.

According to a post by the electrical company on their Facebook page, circuits numbered 26, 8, 13, 14, and 15 have regained electricity, along with several high-voltage lines, including 5980, 5390, 4435, 4390, 4385, and 4395.

Beatriz Johnson Urrutia, the province's First Secretary of the Party, confirmed the connection's reactivation, noting that vital circuits initially powered by the local microsystem are gradually integrating into the general electrical supply as more generation becomes available.

She further mentioned that the number of users receiving power will progressively increase as the load capacity is restored. Despite these efforts, the situation remains severe. In a positive development, the Lidio Ramón Pérez "Felton" thermoelectric plant managed to reactivate its first block, contributing 190 MW of power. However, this has not sufficed to stabilize the grid, which is enduring one of its worst crises in years.

The task of restoring the electrical service continues to be a formidable challenge for authorities, who are racing against time to reestablish "normalcy"—defined as enduring more than 12-hour daily blackouts—since the SEN collapsed on Friday following a failure at the Diezmero substation in Havana, which overwhelmed the government.