A massive blackout on the island of Cuba was recorded this Tuesday afternoon, according to official media, who reported a collapse of the National Electroenergetic System (SEN).
The Technical director of the Electric Union of Cuba, Lázaro Guerra, confirmed this afternoon that there was no service throughout the country, reported the local media 14yMedio.
“The system was working in a complex situation in the western zone with the passage of Hurricane Ian”, he pointed out. “We had an important cargo from the western part without service, including Havana, which is a very important cargo, and in that condition there were relatively high power transfers through the eastern zone.”
The official added that a failure occurred “in the lines of the three links”, two in Matanzas and Guiteras, and the other in Matanzas and Cotorro. The western zone of the Antillean country had a low load level that caused a phenomenon of instability, pointing out that the frequency rose to very high values and there was a lot of generation and little load.
Likewise, Guerra pointed out that In the eastern zone, the opposite occurred, since the generation of energy decreased to very low values, which “caused the central-eastern zone of the country to go out of service due to an instability phenomenon.”
The director also stated that the failures resulted in the system as a whole having a “total zero, that is, there is no electricity service in any area of the country at the moment”.
“ At this time there is a breakdown in the National Electroenergetic System, they confirm to us from the Technical Directorate of the Guantanamo Electric Company. The circuits of the province are turned off, similar to what happens in other provinces of the country”, according to the local newspaper Venceremos.
For its part, the Perlavisión channel indicated that there is an affectation in the networks of the central region of Cuba, which has caused a lack of service throughout the country. He noted that work is being done to restore the service gradually and pending official information.
In the morning hours, the hurricane, which strengthened to category 3 with sustained winds of 125 mph, hit the town of La Coloma, in the province of Pinar del Río, causing dozens of landslides that spread throughout various regions of the island.
Among the most worrying reports were those from Havana, in the Los Sitios area, in the center of the capital. However, there have been no reports of injured people.