The Antonio Guiteras Thermoelectric Power Plant, located in Matanzas, successfully reconnected to the National Electric System (SEN) at midnight on Friday, after completing a cautious and uncertain startup process.
The news was confirmed by the official journalist José Miguel Solís, who reported in the afternoon via that the plant "is online" and progressively increasing its generation, exceeding 160 megawatts (MW) by the end of the day.
"So in baseball terms, they had a hidden ball. BRAVO," wrote Solís, hinting at some irony regarding the sudden restoration after days of official silence.
In addition to confirming the reconnection of the plant, Solís has recently raised his critical tone on social media to harshly question the management of the Ministry of Energy and Mines (MINEM) and the leaders of the Cuban regime.
After being without electricity for more than 22 hours, the journalist demanded fairness in the distribution of blackouts, reminding that during the so-called Special Period, despite the hardship, “the schedule was followed.”
“Inequity has reached a supreme level,” she reported, accusing the authorities of acting without control and ignoring the growing discontent of the people.
Express repairs... and limited
The repair process, as explained this Friday by the technical deputy director of the plant, Román Pérez Castañeda, included welding work to fix the leak detected on Tuesday, July 29, which “was successful,” he stated in remarks reported by Solís.
The operations will proceed with the usual caution until stability is achieved in the working parameters of the plant,” added Pérez Castañeda, referring to the gradual commencement of operations under technical oversight.
An infrastructure on the brink of collapse
La Guiteras, with a nominal capacity of 220 MW, is the largest single unit of electric generation in the country. However, its main boiler has not received major maintenance since its commissioning in 1989, making it a highly vulnerable structure.
During a press conference broadcast on July 31 by the official newspaper Granma, Lázaro Guerra Hernández, director of Electricity at MINEM, openly acknowledged: “The block will be operational, but not in perfect condition.”
Guerra explained that the plant has a "significant capital maintenance debt" and that the recent failure was located in the high-temperature reheater, a critical component. Additionally, he warned about the overall fragility of the system: "Any sudden movement of the machine, an unexpected drop, could result in stress on the piping and lead to another failure."
Despite the fact that the MINEM claims to have the resources and personnel to carry out repairs within 96 hours, the official himself warned that the condition of the air heater "is not good," which could lead to new failures at any moment.
A country in shadow
The disconnection of the Guiteras, along with other outages in thermal power plants and failures in units of Energas Varadero (recently resolved, according to Solís in his ), have led to electricity deficits approaching 2,000 MW, as reported by the Electric Union last Tuesday.
On the same day, users on social media expressed their frustration over power outages lasting up to 20 hours, the loss of food, and lack of drinking water. “Hand over the country, anyone can move it forward except them!,” wrote a citizen on Facebook, reflecting the growing public outrage.
Restart or break?
Even though the Guiteras has resynchronized with the SEN, its technical condition continues to raise concerns. According to government reports, the recovery process included more than 100 corrective tasks, including the replacement of pipes, metallographic controls, and pressure tests.
However, as Guerra Hernández warned: the return to the system does not imply a definitive solution.
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