As Cuba’s blackout continues, here’s why the power grid collapsed.

While Cuba’s power grid was shut down Friday, leaving millions of Cubans without power across the country hours after the government declared an “energy emergency,” authorities did not say when the lights would come back on.

What led to an entire island of 11 million people being left without electricity?

Here’s why the Caribbean island suddenly found itself in the dark.

Island-wide blackout hits Cuba hours after government declares ‘energy emergency’

Crumbling material

Some of the country’s main power plants have been operating for more than 50 years and have not been properly maintained because the government did not have money, said Jorge Piñón, director of the energy program for Latin America and the Caribbean at the University. from Texas and expert on the Cuban energy network.

Glen Sartain, managing director of Energy & Utilities Consulting of West Monroe, added that “many Cuban power plants are outdated and inefficient, often relying on oil and old technologies that lead to regular outages and capacity reduced energy production.

This leaves the island’s aging electricity grid vulnerable “and prone to frequent power outages, particularly in rural areas, making it difficult to distribute electricity efficiently across the country.”

Power plants also use locally extracted oil, whose impurities make regular maintenance even more important.

Cuban authorities have tried to apply “Band-Aids” here and there, but only significant investments will solve the problem, Piñón said.

The power grid is so fragile that when Hurricane Ian crossed the western tip of the island in September 2022, it destroyed the country’s entire power system, plunging Cuba into darkness for days.

Less oil from Venezuela

Shipments to Cuba of Venezuelan oil and refined petroleum products have declined significantly in recent months due to technical problems and the financial needs of the cash-strapped Caracas regime.

Venezuelan experts told the Miami Herald that the lion’s share of the nearly 500,000 barrels the South American country exports daily is sent to China, to repay massive government loans to that country, and to the United States. through the American oil company Chevron, which has a special license to operate in Venezuela despite American sanctions imposed on the Nicolas Maduro regime.

While in the past Venezuela has prioritized oil shipments to Cuba over other commitments, the Caracas regime is currently working to satisfy Beijing, while Chevron’s oil sales constitute a source of much-needed revenue, said Horacio Medina, a former Venezuelan government official. oil company Petróleos de Venezuela, PDVSA.

According to the latest figures reported by Reuters, shipments of Venezuelan oil and refined products to Cuba fell to around 22,000 barrels per day in September, less than half of last year’s average of 55,000 and down sharply by compared to the daily average of 80,000 in 2020.

Juan Fernández, former PDVSA executive director of planning, said the sharp decline was partly due to Venezuela’s difficulties in processing refined petroleum products, which make up a significant portion of shipments to Cuba. Venezuela is facing technical problems and power outages affecting its own refineries, affecting the volume of fuel that would otherwise be shipped to Cuba, he said.

No money for fuel

Cuba needs about 120,000 barrels of oil per day to meet its domestic demand, according to Piñón’s estimates. Cuba produces about 40,000 barrels a day and Mexico sends about 20,000, he said. When Venezuela’s shipments decline, Cuba can only make up the deficit by purchasing oil on the international market.

But the government is “bankrupt,” Cuban economist Omar Everleny Perez said Friday at a Cuba-focused event at Florida International University, during which several economists discussed the spiraling economic crisis that knows the island.

Political alliances with Russia and China have not provided Cuba with the financial support hoped for. Yet Cuban leaders, who blame the current economic crisis exclusively on decades-old U.S. sanctions, have resisted market reforms, limiting foreign investment and private sector growth – and sticking unwaveringly to the l socialist economy.

“The old guard resists, thinking the model could still be fixed,” Perez said. “They don’t know that the model no longer exists. There is nothing to improve, because the model no longer works.”