The Cuban Electric Union (UNE) announced this Thursday at noon that the Antonio Guiteras thermoelectric plant, which provides the most stability to the Island's power system, is now "online and increasing its load."
The news shared by Unión Eléctrica on their Facebook profile has not reassured Cubans. This is the case for user Yadiel Concepción, who commented on the UNE post, stating that it doesn’t matter to him because when the power was on, he also experienced 12 hours of blackout.
In the same vein, an internet user named Yailín Riera noted that the center of Manzanillo has been without electricity since the night of this past Wednesday. "We're still in the dark here."
According to Radio Rebelde journalist José Miguel Solís, after a second attempt, the Guiteras thermoelectric plant remains operational, generating 50 MW "and functioning within the microsystem that encompasses the Yumurí territory up to Sancti Spíritus."
On his Facebook profile, Solís notes that "the operation is extremely complex," and that alongside the workers is the president of the Provincial Defense Council, Mario Sabines Lorenzo. In his statements to the state media, he has not provided any information on when a problem he describes as "very difficult" to resolve will be addressed.
There is growing concern among the population regarding how long the Antonio Guiteras thermoelectric plant will stay online. On October 18, the shutdown of this facility, located in Matanzas, plunged the island into a massive blackout, from which it could not fully recover until the 21st of that month, three days later. At that time, Cuban authorities assured that improvements would follow once the plant was back online, but in less than fifteen days, the situation has repeated itself, this time attributed to Hurricane Rafael.
This Monday, there were seven thermal power units in Cuba out of service: three due to breakdowns (the Mariel thermal power plant, Unit 5 of the Nuevitas thermal power plant, and Unit 2 of the Felton thermal power plant) and four undergoing maintenance (Unit 2 of the Santa Cruz thermal power plant, Unit 3 of the Cienfuegos thermal power plant, Unit 1 of the Felton thermal power plant, and Unit 5 of the Renté thermal power plant).
As a result, there was a 24-hour power outage on Sunday, and on Monday, power cuts were recorded, mainly in the central-eastern region of the country.
This Thursday, the Ministry of Energy and Mines of Cuba announced that an electrical subsystem covering the area from Matanzas to Holguín has been restored through the integration of thermoelectric plants, Energas Varadero, and distributed generation centers in those regions.
This measure would be part of a strategy to divide the electrical supply into independent regional systems, following the disconnection of the National Electric System (SEN) on Wednesday at 2:48 PM due to the impact of Hurricane Rafael, according to official sources.
Currently, only 55.7% of service has been restored in the Isle of Youth, 19% in Pinar del Río, and several circuits in Matanzas, which have returned electricity to the cities of Matanzas, Cárdenas, and Colón.
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