On 20 October 2024, Management reported on the collapse of Cuba’s electrical system and the (then) projected landfall of hurricane Oscar on the North-East coast of Cuba. Below, an updated report.
Electricity Restored
As reported in the international press, Cuba’s entire electrical grid collapsed on Friday 18 October 2024. The national grid was restored on Tuesday afternoon, in the fifth day of the crisis. The entire population of the island and all businesses were affected by the outage, as were many other public services such as the supply of water and access to telecommunication services.
As previously informed, the Miramar Trade Center and the hotels in Havana, Varadero and Trinidad in which the Company has an interest were amongst the least affected and were all able to maintain principal operations, with limitations, thanks to installed back-up generators and – in the case of the Meliá Trinidad Península Hotel – solar panels and battery packs that make this hotel nearly self-sufficient.
Power from the grid was restored to the Miramar Trade Center and the Meliá Habana Hotel early on Monday morning, 19 October 2024, and to the Varadero Hotels and the Meliá Trinidad Península Hotel on Tuesday, 20 October 2024. We believe the managers of the hotels and hotel staff, as well as the joint venture companies, did a commendable job in maintaining as many services as possible and minimizing the impact of these difficult circumstances on the experience of hotel guests and clients of the Miramar Trade Center.
Notwithstanding the above, recent events have made it clear that Cuba’s electrical infrastructure is in a precarious state. Generation capacity is significantly below the total demand of the country and major investments are needed to maintain, modernise and increase the capacity of the existing infrastructure. In the immediate aftermath of the crisis, the Mexican government has expressed its willingness to provide technical support, and China is involved in large-scale projects for the installation of solar farms to add 1,000 MW of capacity by the end of 2025 and another 1,000 MW by 2031.
Hurricane Oscar
In addition to the failure of the electrical grid, the eastern extremity of the island was impacted by serious flooding resulting from hurricane Oscar, which entered the island as a category 1 storm. The Cuban authorities have so far reported 7 fatalities from the storm, primarily as a result of flooding, as well as economic damages to infrastructure and the agricultural sector. Some areas remain unreachable so the full magnitude of damage has not yet been assessed. The hurricane did not have any impact on assets of the Company.