The Cuban government stated it is "taking advantage of" the widespread blackout affecting the island to carry out maintenance actions at the Antonio Guiteras Thermoelectric Power Plant (CTE), located in Matanzas, the largest electricity generator in the country.
The disconnection of the National Electroenergetic System (SEN) left much of the national territory without electricity since Friday night, affecting millions of Cubans who are still without service.
Meanwhile, the authorities announced that they are carrying out "25 maintenance actions" at the plant, work that was originally scheduled for next week.
This was explained by the maintenance chief of Guiteras, Elmer García, who informed that one of the priority tasks involves addressing "a hot spot" in the boiler, where damaged plates and thermal insulation were restored.
"This allows us greater reliability in the area by restoring the damaged plates and thermal insulation, a task that was accomplished," stated the engineer.
For his part, the director of the plant, Rubén Campos Olmos, indicated that starting the plant from a "cold state" requires at least six hours, plus one additional hour for synchronization with the SEN.
We are waiting to receive energy from the interior to begin the startup. We have taken this time to work on some critical points. Since we had to decompress the boiler to fix the leak we had in the steam water system, it requires a shutdown from the cold state of the boiler,” specified Campos Olmos.
The government had assured on March 11 that the Guiteras would go out of service for "brief maintenance". However, the collapse of the national electrical system on Friday, March 14, disrupted the authorities' plans, as they ended up "taking advantage" of the general blackout to address "hot spots" and other issues at the Matanzas power plant.
However, the electrical crisis in Cuba shows no signs of easing, and the widespread blackouts are causing significant unrest among the population, who are expressing their frustration on social media about the lack of clear information and concrete solutions from the government.
According to a survey by CiberCuba conducted through social media, over 90% of Cubans reported being without electricity throughout Saturday, which has disrupted economic activities and affected essential services.
The government tries to justify the crisis with "technical problems," but the situation highlights the deterioration of the energy system, characterized by a lack of investment and the aging of power generation plants.
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