Sunday, March 16

Cuba is experiencing yet another nationwide power outage after the central electrical grid failed for the fourth time in the last six months.

The power outage was due to a short circuit on a transmission line at the Diezmero substation in the country's capital of Havana, which led to a chain reaction of events that completely halted power generation across the island.

The incident occurred on Friday night at around 8 pm local time, leaving many citizens without electricity for all of Saturday. Electricity is necessary for a multitude of important household devices like stovetops, ovens, fridges, and air conditioning, leaving Cubans hot and uncomfortable in their homes with food spoiling away.

Now, authorities are working to restore power as fast as possible, but it could take days for power to return to some areas. They are working primarily on restoring power to crucial buildings like hospitals, and some small power plants are already back up and running. However, some of the country's largest power plants are still shut down, so many residents have been forced to resort to a personal device that creates electricity-- and most Cubans lack access to a generator.

Unfortunately, this is not the first time this sort of problem has happened. Major nationwide blackouts also occurred in October, November, and December, with some leaving residents out of power for upwards of two days. Occasional outages are common across the country, with people losing electricity for four or five hours at a time, but those blackouts can last up to 20 hours in some cases.

These blackouts primarily occur due to fuel shortages and aging electrical infrastructure across Cuba. The country has faced major financial problems with oil and gas in recent years, forcing them to depend on supplies of Venezuelan oil, which can be inconsistent. In addition, much of their electrical infrastructure is over 30 years old, and constant battering of the system by hurricanes every year has exacerbated the effect of age on the reliability of the country's power grid.

Nevertheless, Cuba is working on moving towards renewable energy to shift away from their dependency on oil from other countries-- the planned construction of at least 55 solar farms across the island by the end of 2025 is expected to generate enough electricity to supply around 12% of the country's total energy consumption.

Fact of the Day (Reader's Digest): The FDA actually allows up to one rat hair in every 100 grams of peanut butter before it’s considered “defective.” For reference, 100 grams is equal to a little under a quarter of a pound. Since it’s so hard to spot and remove the hairs during the difficult, unglamorous process of peanut harvesting, they allow small amounts of it.

Quote of the Day (Gracious Quotes): Happy is the man who has broken the chains which hurt the mind, and has given up worrying once and for all. (Ovid)

Word of the Day (Merriam-Webster): Stratagem (verb, STRAT-uh-jum) - A stratagem is a trick or plan for deceiving an enemy or for achieving a goal.

In a Sentence: They devised various stratagems to get the cat into the carrier, but the feisty feline was wise to them all.