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Cuba's national electricity grid collapsed totally at about 2 p.m. local time on Friday, 18 September 2026, blacking out the whole island.
More than 9 million people lost power; only about 5% of the island had supply back by sundown and roughly 18% by late evening.
The trigger was the tripping of a 220 kV transmission line between Matanzas and Cienfuegos, followed by the Matanzas-Santa Clara line.
Available generation was about 1,113 MW against demand of about 3,210 MW - a shortfall of roughly 2,100 MW even before the collapse.
It is the latest in a run of nationwide failures that began on 18 October 2024, when the Antonio Guiteras plant in Matanzas, Cuba's largest, went offline.
Cuba is an archipelago in the West Indies, ringed by the Straits of Florida to the north, the Windward Passage to the east, the Caribbean Sea to the south and the Gulf of Mexico to the west - astride the sea lanes approaching the Panama Canal. The grid failure began on the 220 kV corridor linking Matanzas, east of Havana, with Cienfuegos on the southern coast and Santa Clara in the interior.
The first nationwide collapse, after the Antonio Guiteras plant in Matanzas - Cuba's largest - goes offline, costing 1.64 GW. The blackout lasts to 24 October.
The grid goes down again as Hurricane Rafael crosses the island.
A third nationwide collapse, again traced to the Antonio Guiteras plant.
A collapse knocks out supply, hitting the western region hardest.
Another island-wide failure, with restoration taking days.
The grid collapses three times in a single month, with rolling blackouts exceeding 30 hours.
Total collapse at about 2 p.m., leaving over 9 million without power.
India appointed Hansraj Singh Verma as its next Ambassador to Cuba on 18 September 2026, the same day as the blackout. Both countries are members of the Non-Aligned Movement, which Cuba has hosted and chaired from Havana.
A national grid without islanding and black-start capacity can be taken down by one line fault - the same vulnerability behind India's July 2012 blackout, which affected over 620 million people across the Northern, Eastern and North-Eastern grids.
Cuba's gap between roughly 100,000 barrels a day needed and 40,000 produced is a textbook case of import dependence in the power sector, and of why storage matters once solar is added to a fragile grid.
GS Paper 1 > World Geography - location and physical features; GS Paper 2 > Effect of policies of developed countries on India's interests
General Awareness > World geography, capitals and current international events
If a major solar storm (solar flare) reaches the Earth, which of the following are the possible effects on the Earth? 1. GPS and navigation systems could fail. 2. Tsunamis could occur at equatorial regions. 3. Power grids could be damaged. 4. Intense auroras could occur over much of the Earth. 5. Forest fires could take place over much of the planet. 6. Orbits of the satellites could be disturbed. 7. Shortwave radio communication of the aircraft flying over polar regions could be interrupted. Select the correct answer using the code given below:
Answer: 1, 3, 4, 6 and 7 only
A cascading failure in which generation and transmission trip in sequence until the whole synchronous network shuts down and has to be restarted from scratch.
An isolated steep-sided limestone hill of karst country, characteristic of Cuba's Vinales Valley.
The strait between Cuba and Hispaniola, connecting the Atlantic Ocean with the Caribbean Sea.