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Santiago de Cuba and Guantánamo cut off from the national power grid

The tripping of the 220-kilovolt Cueto-Renté line left Cuba's two easternmost provinces without power on Sunday, according to the state utility Unión Eléctrica and three independent outlets, on a day with a forecast shortfall of 1,760 megawatts.

The provinces of Santiago de Cuba and Guantánamo were cut off from the National Electric Power System (SEN) on Sunday, October 25, after the tripping of the 220-kilovolt Cueto-Renté transmission line. The state utility Unión Eléctrica (UNE) reported the incident at 13:14 on its WhatsApp channel and said it had activated “the protocols for its restoration.”

The Santiago de Cuba electricity company confirmed the interruption on its Telegram channel. Neither it nor the UNE said how long the repairs would take or how many customers were left without service, 14ymedio and Periódico Cubano reported.

A few hours earlier, the UNE had announced the reconnection of the Antonio Guiteras thermal plant in Matanzas, the country's largest generating unit, which had gone offline on Saturday night because of turbine vibrations, three days after being brought back. The plant has disconnected at least 23 times this year, according to 14ymedio.

The UNE bulletin published that morning, before the tripping, estimated availability of 1,120 megawatts (MW) against demand of 2,850 MW at peak hours, for a deficit of 1,730 MW and a forecast shortfall of 1,760 MW. The previous day's peak shortfall was 1,843 MW at 19:20.

Nine units at five thermal plants remained out of the system: five with breakdowns (units 1 and 2 at Santa Cruz, unit 2 at Felton and units 3 and 6 at Renté) and four under maintenance (unit 8 at Mariel, unit 3 at Santa Cruz, unit 5 at Nuevitas and unit 5 at Renté). For the peak, the utility expected unit 2 at Santa Cruz, with 80 MW, and unit 6 at Renté, with 50 MW, to come online.

Eastern Cuba has suffered several disconnections this year. On October 10, the tripping of the Nuevitas-Las Tunas line isolated five provinces; on August 27 another disturbance separated the eastern provinces and knocked Felton, Nuevitas and Renté out of the system; and on February 4 a fault in the Holguín high-voltage grid left Holguín, Granma, Santiago de Cuba and Guantánamo isolated. By 14ymedio's count, in 2026 there have been at least five partial disconnections and eight total collapses, the most recent on September 18.

The disconnection coincided with heavy rain in Guantánamo. According to Granma, in the provincial capital rainfall exceeded 92 millimeters in 24 hours from Saturday morning, with 70 millimeters in Baracoa and 65 in Maisí, and the head of the provincial Defense Council toured San Antonio del Sur and Imías.

Sources: 14ymedio · Periódico Cubano · Cubanet · Cubadebate · Granma · Serie Yamacoa: Afectación eléctrica máxima prevista en el horario pico (Unión Eléctrica (UNE))

Data updated: 2026-10-25T20:00:00.000Z

Santiago de Cuba and Guantánamo cut off from the national power grid | Yamacoa Observatory