Related videos:
The Antonio Guiteras Thermoelectric Plant went offline from the National Electric System (SEN) again this Thursday at 4:58 AM, as .
The cause was a leak in the boiler, the same type of failure that had already taken the plant out of service on May 5.
This is the ninth breakdown that Guiteras has experienced so far in 2026, occurring just five days after the plant was synchronized again to the SEN on May 9, following a repair shutdown of approximately 90 hours during which nearly 300 corrective actions were taken.
The new outage worsens an electrical crisis that already reached record levels this Wednesday, when the deficit hit 2,113 MW at 8:40 PM — the highest of the year — with only 1,230 MW available against a demand of 3,250 MW.
For this Thursday, UNE forecasted an impact of up to 2,050 MW during peak nighttime hours, which translates to power outages of between 20 and 22 hours daily in Havana.
The fuel situation in Cuba is critical
The system has been operating without reserves since the supply from a Russian donation of 100,000 tons of crude, which arrived on March 31, ran out in early May.
The Minister of Energy and Mines, Vicente de la O Levy, admitted this Wednesday that Cuba "is out of fuel" and described the situation as "acute, critical, and extremely tense."
Guiteras, located in Matanzas and the main individual generator of the National Electric System with a capacity of up to 270 MW, suffers from severe structural deterioration. Its last major maintenance took place in 2010, and it has accumulated over 15 years without a comprehensive shutdown.
The plant director, Román Pérez Castañeda, has acknowledged that at least 180 days of downtime are needed for maintenance, but he admitted that "the situation in the country still does not allow it".
"We avoid stopping unless it is necessary, in order not to disrupt generation," stated Pérez Castañeda, a logic that illustrates the vicious cycle in which Cuba's energy infrastructure operates: without stopping, repairs cannot be made, but stopping exacerbates power outages.
The capital maintenance of Guiteras was promised for the end of 2025, but it was postponed by Minister De la O Levy himself, citing a "situational problem."
Filed under: