The Cuban Electric Union (UNE) has forecasted a significant power outage for Wednesday evening, citing a generation capacity shortfall of 1,400 MW. This figure surpasses Tuesday's projected deficit of 1,100 MW; however, the actual shortfall reached 1,279 MW.
According to the daily report, the service was disrupted for a full 24 hours the previous day. The peak impact, totaling 1,279 MW, occurred at 6:40 pm, affecting areas from Matanzas to Guantánamo. At that peak demand time, 199 MW were impacted due to network damages caused by Hurricane Rafael, affecting regions like Pinar del Río (53 MW), Artemisa (110 MW), Havana (19 MW), and Mayabeque (17 MW).
The blackout stretched into the early hours of Wednesday morning. Service was restored to Pinar del Río at 2:19 am today. Meanwhile, five units from the Mariel, Cienfuegos, Felton, and Renté thermoelectric plants remain out of order, with maintenance still ongoing for three other units in the Renté, Santa Cruz, and Cienfuegos facilities.
Adding to the crisis, 45 distributed generation plants are offline due to fuel shortages, accounting for 113 MW, alongside the Santiago de Cuba barge with 67 MW, amounting to a total of 180 MW. Constraints in thermal generation capacity further contribute 388 MW to the overall issue.