Havana (Cuba), 22 Mar. (LaPresse/AP) – Cuba has begun restoring the electricity grid in the wake of a nationwide blackout that left millions of people in the dark for the third time in a month. Around 72,000 customers in the capital Havana, including five hospitals, had their electricity restored this morning, according to a report by the state-run Electricity Union and the Ministry of Energy and Mines. However, this represents only a fraction of Havana’s total population, which stands at around 2 million. In Havana and in provinces such as Matanzas in the west and Holguín in the east, local micro-grids have been set up to supply the most vital centres. Residents in some areas of the capital told the Associated Press that power had returned in the early hours of the morning. The Cuban Electricity Union, which reports to the Ministry of Energy and Mines, reported that the total blackout of the national power grid was caused by an unexpected shutdown of a generating unit at the Nuevitas thermoelectric power station in the province of Camagüey.
© Copyright LaPresse
