Image Credit: https://medium.com/shift-journal/cuba-faces-major-power-outage-b3951ab16b08
On October 18, 2024, Cuba experienced a catastrophic power failure that left half of the population—10 million people—without power. This massive blackout highlights the vulnerability of outdated power infrastructure, strained by aging oil-fired plants, frequent breakdowns, and fuel shortages. Unfortunately, Cuba’s energy issues are not new; the country has suffered months of blackouts which recently grew more severe, with infrastructure struggling to meet demand.
Cuban residents have been facing crippling food shortages, limited access to healthcare, and a lack of basic necessities amidst nationwide energy disruptions. These blackouts have deepened the humanitarian crisis, disrupting cold storage, shutting down businesses, and cutting off essential services.
Beyond the immediate effects, the impacts are deeply felt across critical sectors like tourism, agriculture, and essential services. This event underscores the importance of modern, resilient energy systems that can support both economic growth and stability.
How Blackouts Derail Economies
Cuba’s power crisis has caused widespread disruptions, from halted business operations to crippled tourism. Tourism—one of the country’s primary economic drivers—has suffered cancellations, lost revenue, and reputational damage. Meanwhile, agriculture in regions like Pinar del Río has been hit hard, with spoiled crops and irrigation systems failing due to power cuts.
Years of underinvestment and poor maintenance have left the grid in disrepair, forcing the government to divert public funds toward constant repairs rather than sustainable upgrades. As blackouts disrupt food supplies, healthcare, and essential services, many Cubans have evacuated temporarily or permanently, exacerbating the country’s instability.
Global Grid Failures Call for Decentralized Solutions
Cuba’s power failure is attributed to multiple vulnerabilities, including a centralized power system that relies heavily on imported fuel to run thermoelectric plants. The Cuban government often points to U.S. sanctions as a barrier to securing adequate fuel, but this is only one piece of a larger issue. Decades of underinvestment, poor maintenance, and a lack of infrastructure upgrades have left the grid in disrepair, with billions of dollars needed for modernization. This situation underscores the global importance of energy independence, where political dynamics can have profound consequences on power security.
While Cuba has pledged to generate 24% of its energy from renewable sources by 2030, this effort was clearly too little, too late to prevent a major crisis. The question becomes: What if Cuba had met this target five years ago—or even now? Decentralized systems with renewable energy and storage could have reduced Cuba’s dependence on imported fuels and prevented widespread outages.
Despite abundant wind and solar availability, Cuba has yet to capitalize on these renewable sources. To recover from the current crisis—and prevent future ones—the nation must act quickly to build renewable capacity and energy storage infrastructure.
Practically, this could look like a school or hospital having solar panels on their roof with canopies over their parking lots, and containers of long duration energy storage on site to maximize these investments. With a solution like this, students would not miss school due to power outages, money would be saved on power costs, and the country would be taking strides to meeting their critical renewable energy goals.
Unfortunately, Cuba’s blackout isn’t an isolated case. Around the world, aging grids are buckling under pressure, with Global electricity demand expected to grow an average of 3.4% annually through 2026.
In the U.S., the 2021 Texas blackout left 4.5 million homes without power and caused massive damage. According to a report by the University of Texas at Austin’s Energy Institute: “This failure has resulted in at least 57 deaths across 25 Texas counties and over $195 billion in property damage”.
Back to back hurricanes Irma and Maria devastated Puerto Rico in 2017 and led to a staggering eleven months to restore primary power, with frequent outages continuing for years afterward. This humanitarian crisis resulted in extensive studies on lessons learned and recommendations for future disaster prevention. The PR100 Report outlines steps to achieving 100% renewable energy by 2025, citing energy storage as a key component: “The Puerto Rico grid would benefit from deploying utility-scale battery energy storage in the near term to support bulk power system resilience to extreme weather events, as well as day-to-day reliability.”
The graph below shows how solar energy stored during the day can offset evening demand, reducing costs and preventing grid strain:
Source: https://www.dvlnet.com/blog/microgrids-part-2-getting-off-the-grid
These events highlight the urgent need to diversify power sources. Combining decentralized systems with long-duration energy storage (LDES) offers the most reliable path to keeping power on for homes, businesses, and essential services—no matter the crisis.
Graphene-Based Long Duration Energy Storage: The Solution to Critical Outages
Emtel Energy USA’s graphene supercapacitor-based Electrostatic Long-Duration Energy Storage (ELDES) offers a market disrupting solution that could immediately benefit nations facing energy crises like Cuba’s. This non-lithium, carbon neutral technology integrates with up to eight power sources and makes renewable sources like solar and wind become viable grid alternatives. This solution would bring power to the people, with solutions ranging from individual residential storage units, to small commercial systems, up to utility-scale containerized solutions.
Features include:
- High Efficiency in any Climate: Unlike lithium systems, ELDES modules operate at 99.1% efficiency between -22°F and 122°F without the need for supplemental cooling, minimizing maintenance and operational costs.
- Long-Lasting with No Degradation: ELDES solutions enable storage for months at a time with no leakage. With an electrostatic, rather than chemical reaction, there is no degradation for at least 500,000 cycles.
- Extremely Safe with No Thermal Runaway: With no heat signature or risk of thermal runaway, ELDES solutions can be safely installed indoors, reducing space needs and safety risks.
- Rapid Deployment and Scalability: EEUSA’s residential to utility-scale solutions are available in short lead times and can be scaled easily. There is no limit to the amount of storage that can be achieved in a given application, up to multiple gigawatts.
By integrating graphene-based energy storage, countries can stabilize essential services, support economic recovery, and future-proof their infrastructure against grid overload, climate and fuel-related challenges. As the world shifts towards decentralized, sustainable energy systems, EEUSA’s long duration energy storage provides a new path to net zero energy resilience.
Energy is one of the most important topics of today. Global attempts at bringing renewable energy forefront has led to the realization that energy storage has been the missing linchpin in the equation. While lithium-ion batteries are widely used, they pose significant challenges, including safety risks and environmental concerns. In future articles, we’ll dive deeper into the challenges of lithium-ion battery storage and why Emtel’s ELDES offers a better alternative. Emtel USA’s technology, developed in the UAE, is beginning to make a powerful debut as the only sustainable LDES lithium battery alternative in the US market.
The transition to renewable, decentralized energy systems is no longer a future goal—it is a necessity today. Emtel Energy USA’s LDES solutions provide the technology needed to build resilient, sustainable grids that can withstand future challenges.
Conclusion: Resilient Energy Infrastructure Today to Strengthen Tomorrow
The Cuban blackout highlights the dangers of neglecting energy infrastructure. Reliable, sustainable power is not just a goal to prevent minor outages—it is a lifeline for economies, communities, and essential services. Without action, these crises will continue to escalate, threatening public safety and economic growth.
With more education, policy support, and partnerships, Emtel Energy USA is ready to lead the energy transition. Our ELDES solutions provide the technology needed to build sustainable, decentralized grids that can withstand future challenges.
It’s time for governments, businesses, and communities to adopt long-duration energy storage solutions to stabilize power, reduce fossil fuel reliance, and secure energy independence. Modern infrastructure does more than prevent blackouts—it powers progress. The transition to renewable, decentralized energy systems is not just a goal for the future—it’s a necessity today.