The Ministry of Energy and Mines (MINEM) of Cuba reported that on the morning of this Friday, a total disconnection of the National Electro-Energetic System (SEN) occurred, meaning a complete blackout, after the Guiteras thermoelectric plant went out of service.
"At 11:07 this morning, due to the conditions in which the SEN is operating, there was a total disconnection following the shutdown of the Antonio Guiteras thermoelectric plant. The Electric Union is working on restoring the Electrical System," published the Ministry of Energy and Mines on X shortly after 12:08 (Cuban local time), in a post that was deleted a few minutes later.
The brief publication did not provide further details about the circumstances of the Guiteras going offline, the main and largest thermoelectric plant in the country, located in the province of Matanzas.
In another more recent post, the MINEM reiterated the announcement, although slightly modifying the original content.
"Following the unexpected outage of the CTE Antonio Guiteras, a total disconnection of the National Electroenergetic System occurred at 11 a.m. today. The Electric Union is working on its restoration," they wrote.
According to the report published by UNE this morning, seven thermoelectric units were out of service this Friday: four due to breakdowns and three for maintenance.
The Guiteras was not included in the list, despite the fact that during the appearance this Thursday, the director of UNE, Alfredo López, had already anticipated that both Felton and Guiteras would be taken out of service for maintenance at some point.
The report from the UNE on this October 18 mentioned the following units as damaged: unit 1 of the CTE Santa Cruz, unit 2 of the CTE Felton, and units 3 and 6 of the CTE Renté.
Unit 2 of the Santa Cruz CTE, unit 4 of the Cienfuegos CTE, and unit 5 of the Renté CTE are under maintenance.
The Cuban Prime Minister, Manuel Marrero Cruz, appeared on Thursday night in a troubled broadcast on Cuban radio and television alongside officials from the Ministry of Energy and Mines to report on the current energy crisis in the country.
Marrero Cruz made it clear that the situation is extremely critical and indicated that no short-term solution is expected. However, they said that an improvement was anticipated starting this Friday after the unloading of a fuel ship.
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