Sistema Eléctrico Nacional

Cuba's Sistema Eléctrico Nacional (SEN) suffered its fifth total collapse of 2026 on 14 July, when the Felton unit 1 thermal plant tripped at 11:05 and widened the generation deficit to 2,020 MW.

That followed a fourth total collapse just four days earlier, when a 220kV transmission line between Santa Clara and Sancti Spíritus failed at 15:55 on 10 July, cutting available generation to 935 MW against 3,100 MW of demand and taking 11 of 16 thermal units offline. A third total collapse had already occurred on 6 July after Unit 6 failed at the Nuevitas thermoelectric plant.

Three total national collapses within eight days is a genuine cadence step-change from the historical pattern of roughly one total collapse every few weeks. Cuba's grid operator, Unión Eléctrica, reported an actual peak deficit of 2,126 MW on 15 July and forecast 2,240 MW for 16 July against only 990 MW of available generation, stating service was affected for the full 24 hours 'por falta de capacidad de generación' (for lack of generation capacity).