Most of Cuba's capital, Havana, has had its power restored after a nationwide blackout that left 10 million people without power on Friday. The capital's electricity company said late Sunday that about two-thirds of its customers in the city had had their power restored, and that the number would rise overnight. Cheers could be heard in several neighborhoods across the city as lights were turned on after two days without power.
Cuba's power grid collapsed on Friday night after a transmission line at a substation in Havana shorted out. It started a chain reaction that shut down electricity production in the country. The blackout plunged the city into darkness, with streetlights and traffic lights out as a result of the blackout. The city is home to more than two million people. people in Havana.
The operator of the city's electricity grid said Sunday that the country's two largest oil-fired power plants, Felton and Antonia Guiteras, were back up and running and producing electricity. Friday's grid collapse was Cuba's fourth nationwide blackout since October.
Electricity has also returned to the western province of Pinar del Rio. That area was the last to receive power before darkness fell on Sunday night, the operator said. Cuba's oil-fired power plants, already outdated and struggling to maintain power production, ended in crisis last year when oil imports from Venezuela, Russia and Mexico dwindled.
Even before Friday's grid collapse, many in the country had already experienced daily power outages lasting 20 hours or more. Schools in several provinces in western Cuba will remain closed until Tuesday, the country's education ministry said.
The country's growing energy crisis is due to a Cold War-era US trade embargo and new restrictions imposed by the new US president, Donald Trump. Cuba's government is pushing to build large solar parks with help from China in an attempt to become more independent of oil-produced energy.
jel /ritzau/Reuters
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