At around 9:14 a.m. local time, the island’s power grid went down after an “unexpected failure” at the Antonio Guiteras thermoelectric plant, according to a post on the Havana Electric Company’s social media accounts. “Restoration efforts are underway from the National Load Dispatch Center of the Unión Eléctrica,” the statement read.

At 9:48 a.m., the Ministry of Energy and Mines (Minem) confirmed that an investigation was underway while restoration efforts had already begun. By 10:26 a.m., officials reported that Prime Minister Manuel Marrero had arrived at the National Load Dispatch Center, where he met with Alfredo López Valdés, general director of the Unión Nacional Eléctrica (UNE).

This marks the fifth time Cuba has suffered a total grid collapse since October 2024. The first occurred on October 17 of that year, followed by several others — the most recent before today took place on March 14, 2025. Nearly six months later, the island is once again in the dark.

The latest outage comes on the heels of July and August, typically the months of highest electricity demand. As in previous years, authorities promised to reduce summer blackouts but failed to deliver. In fact, conditions appear to have worsened: on August 5, one of the Turkish powership supporting Cuba’s generation capacity left the island, followed by another on September 6.

Lázaro Guerra, director of Electricity at Minem, said on September 9 that the government had focused on optimizing thermal generation — the backbone of the system — to meet summer demand. But that strategy seems at odds with Cuba’s push to expand solar power.

By May 2025, the Cuban government had allocated 33.5 percent of its total investments to the energy sector, much of it likely directed toward solar projects. Yet by June, the country was producing less power than a year earlier. Authorities have set a goal of building 55 solar parks before the end of the year; as of September 7, only 29 were operational. Together, those facilities would add 1,200 megawatts to the grid. Current demand hovers around 3,500 megawatts.

Still, rolling blackouts have not eased — and a total system collapse renders solar parks useless. While solar energy is safe and reliable, it requires a stable grid to operate. Cuba also lacks the large-scale battery systems needed to store excess energy and restart the system after a blackout.

Earlier in September, President Miguel Díaz-Canel toured several Asian countries in what appeared to be a bid for fresh investment. “Cuba is open to all proposals,” he told a group of Chinese business leaders during one stop. So far, China has remained Havana’s primary partner in supplying solar panels.