Guiteras Thermoelectric Plant is out of service again due to a boiler malfunction

The Antonio Guiteras thermoelectric power plant (CTE), the largest generating facility in Cuba, went offline this morning at 3:00 AM due to a puncture in the boiler, as reported by the Electric Union (UNE) on their page.

The outage occurred when the country had already been experiencing consecutive days of blackouts lasting up to 22 hours, with a deficit that reached 1,752 MW on Easter Sunday during the nighttime peak.

The new breakdown puts the National Electroenergy System (SEN) on the brink of collapse, as the Matanzas plant is the largest power generator in Cuba, and its disconnection has caused most of the general blackouts that have occurred in the last year and a half.

The Guiteras has a concerning history of recurring failures that has intensified in recent months.

So far in 2026, the plant has been removed from the National Electric System (SEN) on at least four occasions before this new breakdown: on February 2 due to a defect in the "Nodriza" of the boiler; on February 9 due to a crack in the boiler structure; on March 4 due to a leak that left two-thirds of the country without electricity, from Camagüey to Pinar del Río; and on March 16, when a new leak in the boiler caused a total collapse of the SEN for 29 hours and 29 minutes.

In 2025, the situation did not improve: the plant experienced at least seven serious outages, with causes that repeat time and again: punctures, leaks, cracks, failures in the reheater and issues in the lower part of the boiler.

La Guiteras, inaugurated in 1988 in Matanzas, has a nominal capacity of 250 MW and accounts for between 20% and 25% of the country's thermal generation. Whenever it goes offline, the national deficit skyrockets, and power outages spread throughout the region.

The underlying causes are structural: a plant with more than 36 years of operation, aging, with inadequate maintenance, chronic shortages of spare parts, and accumulated deterioration without comprehensive solutions. Repairs are temporary, and the plant fails again shortly after being reintegrated into the system.

The Cuban regime has attributed the energy crisis to the U.S. embargo, but the technical reports from UNE itself document structural deterioration, lack of preventive maintenance, and shortage of parts, which are direct consequences of decades of disinvestment under the dictatorship.