The electricity crisis in Cuba, which has accumulated eight total blackouts in 2026, and the improvised solutions that emerged in every corner of the country

Several people light themselves with their phones while playing dominoes, as a fire burns in a street in Havana, Cuba, set by neighbors protesting against prolonged power outages. (AP Photo/Ramón Espinosa)Solar energy at a baseball stadium, wood-fired stoves at a state bakery, and a neighborhood that pooled its own savings to pay for panels: Cuba is displaying a mosaic of improvised responses to an unrelenting electricity crisis. This was documented by 14ymedio, an independent news outlet based in Madrid. The community of Zaza del Medio, in Sancti Spíritus, had to raise USD 10,000 among its neighbors to buy the solar panels for the Etecsa radiobase that provides them with telephone coverage. No one gave them as a gift. The Augusto César Sandino baseball stadium, home of the Leopardos de Villa Clara, began installing solar panels to guarantee its electricity supply. The facility depends on the National Institute of Sports (Inder). The venue will host on October 14 the subseries between the Leopardos and the Cocodrilos de Matanzas, ahead of the National Baseball Series. The game is scheduled for two in the afternoon, not at night, as some users speculated in the official post announcing the works. Installation of solar panels at the Augusto César Sandino stadium, in Villa Clara. / Mariela Fonseca, Provincial Director of Sports, taken from 14 y medio. Several of those comments questioned that resources were being allocated to sports instead of health or basic services, as reported by 14ymedio. The complaint is not new at that stadium: in March, coach Fernando Carvajal Iglesias was dismissed after criticizing government officials over the deterioration of the province's sports facilities, according to the complaint filed by the Cuban Institute for Freedom of Expression and the Press (Iclep). An Inder official responded to that organization that Carvajal had violated the code of ethics that coaches sign, which commits them to respect revolutionary principles. In San Cristóbal, Artemisa, the state bakery of the José Martí community found its own way out of the fuel shortage. Its workers removed the original burner and built a forge that generates steam outside the oven and channels it inside using a fan. The system runs on marabú instead of diesel. The administrator of the facility, Damarys Trujillo Hernández, explained to El Artemiseño that the design emerged after several tests. The bakery of the José Martí community, in San Cristóbal, Artemisa, designed its own solution to replace diesel with marabú. / El Artemiseño, taken from 14 y medio. "The idea was to create a forge, so that we could work with it using firewood, but keep the original structure of the oven, to resume its use when conditions improve regarding fuel," Trujillo told the outlet. The shortage of flour and sugar also limits bread production. To mitigate this, the bakery partnered with a self-employed worker and is evaluating adding a mipyme. "Now we are partnering with a self-employed worker and it could be with a mipyme, to have more possibilities of raw materials that allow us to produce more," Trujillo added. The Agroforestry Company of Villa Clara opened La Casa del Forestal in Santa Clara, which the official announcement describes as "the first store of its kind in Cuba." The premises offers stoves that use sawdust and pine roots to facilitate lighting charcoal, intended for cooking food during blackouts. This store joins the expansion of photovoltaic systems in state facilities that official media present as part of the "energy transition," the same concept that Etecsa repeated when installing panels at its radiobases in recent months. A police officer tries to put out a fire set by residents protesting against prolonged power cuts in a street in Havana, Cuba, on Thursday, May 14, 2026. (AP Photo/Ramón Espinosa)Prime Minister Manuel Marrero reported in July that 4,292 photovoltaic systems had already been installed throughout the country through state projects. President Miguel Díaz-Canel added on September 24 that 25% of Etecsa's radiobases already had solar panels. Those official figures, however, contrast with the magnitude of the problem facing the Cuban power grid. According to recent reports, the National Electric System has accumulated eight total collapses so far in 2026, the last one on September 18, with a restoration that took around 32 hours. The Minister of Energy and Mines, Vicente de la O Levy, acknowledged that the Electric Union is already managing 144 solar photovoltaic parks and is moving toward some 300 generation points, although he admitted difficulties in obtaining financing. Díaz-Canel himself insisted that "we still have not realized the energy transition we are leading," as reported by Canal Caribe, a Cuban state television channel. Cuba converted shipping containers into charging and community cooking centers in Guantánamo to cope with prolonged blackouts. REUTERS/Claudia Daut (CUBA)Renewable energy today represents 10% of the electricity generated on the island, up from 3% in 2024, with backing from China and an official goal of reaching 30% by 2030. The generation deficit exceeds 2,000 megawatts on numerous days, a gap that the solar parks still cannot close. While authorities celebrate the photovoltaic advances in stadiums, radiobases and specialized stores, bakeries like the one in San Cristóbal continue solving the fuel shortage that persists day to day with firewood and improvised alliances.