The nation of Cuba on Wednesday experienced power outage after the country’s power grid failed overnight, the Government said. A development that triggered a nationwide blackout that plunged the country into darkness for the third time in two months.
“At 2:08 am, the electrical system… was disconnected when the Antonio Guiteras thermal power plant went out”, the Energy and Mines ministry said in a post on social media.
The ministry, however, stated that it was working to restore power.
Recall that in mid-October, a massive blackout hit the cash-strapped island nation after weeks of extended outages. Leaving life in the capital Havana at a virtual standstill. Schools closed, public transport ground to a halt and traffic lights stopped functioning.
According to report, the cause of that outage, like Wednesday’s, was a failure at the Antonio Guiteras plant. The is the biggest of Cuba’s eight coal-fired power plants
Power was restored to most of the country in the following week. However, the country was after plunged back into darkness by Hurricane Rafael that slammed into the island in early November. The hurricane knocked out the grid nationwide once again.
Following the development, the Communist authorities have blamed previous outages on difficulties in acquiring fuel for the country’s power plants. They attributed it to the tightening, during Donald Trump’s first presidency, of a six-decade-long US trade embargo.
But the island is also in the throes of a broader economic malaise — its worst economic crisis, according to experts. This is following the collapse of the Soviet Union, which heavily subsidized the one-party state.
source: AFP
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