HAVANA, July 16 (Xinhua) -- Cuba announced late Tuesday it will ration electricity nationwide till at least next Saturday due to unexpected failures in several power generation plants.
A sudden failure in different generation units of the country's most important power plants caused a nationwide shortage of 760 megawatts, resulting in electricity cuts, said Cuban Minister of Energy and Mines Raul Garcia.
"The average time for the rationing in the last few days has been about 3 hours per circuit, sometimes less or longer depending on the situation the national electric system is facing," he said.
Garcia told Cuban state TV that at peak hours, all provinces will be affected with blackouts except areas of social importance like hospitals and policlinics.
"One of the generation units has already been recovered in the province of Camaguey and two more in this same plant will power up in the coming hours. Also another unit that serves the capital has been repaired and should start generating by Thursday," he added.
The biggest failure occurred at the Antonio Guiteras plant, the island's most important thermoelectric plant, in the western province of Matanzas.
The Cuban official confirmed the situation was caused by unexpected breakdowns at the aging units, some of which date back to the Soviet era.
Cubans have been informing on social media for the last three days of major energy cuts that last between three and five hours each, although Havana hasn't been affected at all.
