The informative note from the Unión Eléctrica (UNE) published this Friday highlights an anomaly that doesn't go unnoticed: the Antonio Guiteras Thermoelectric Plant, which went offline from the National Electric System (SEN) early Thursday due to a boiler leak, is not mentioned among the damaged units, those under maintenance, or those out of service.
The plant, located in Matanzas and regarded as the largest individual generator of the National Electric System, was disconnected on Thursday at 4:58 AM.
His director, Román Pérez Castañeda, warned that the repair would take between three and four days depending on the extent of the damage, and the authorities stated they are working to identify the fault. So far, no announcement has been made regarding its reconnection to the system.
What stands out is that, despite this situation, the projected deficit for peak hours this Friday drops to 1,619 MW, compared to the 1,991 MW recorded as the highest impact on Thursday at 9:20 PM, with no clear official explanation regarding the cause of this improvement.
According to the UNE report, at 06:30 hours this Friday, the availability of the SEN was 1,241 MW compared to a demand of 2,800 MW, with 1,565 MW affected. For the noon hour, an impact of 1,350 MW was estimated.
For the nighttime peak, the UNE anticipates the addition of Unit 6 from the Mariel Power Plant at 70 MW, Unit 1 from the Felton Power Plant—currently starting up—, Unit 3 from the Renté Power Plant at 50 MW, and six engines from the Moa fuel site with 90 MW, which would raise the estimated availability to 1,601 MW against a maximum demand of 3,220 MW.
Among the units with reported issues, the following are out of order: Unit 6 of the CTE Máximo Gómez, Unit 1 of the CTE Ernesto Guevara De La Serna, Unit 2 of the CTE Lidio Ramón Pérez, and Unit 5 of the CTE Antonio Maceo. Currently under maintenance are Unit 1 of the CTE Lidio Ramón Pérez, Unit 5 of the CTE Mariel, Unit 6 of the CTE Renté, and Unit 5 of the CTE Nuevitas. There are also 246 MW out of service due to limitations in thermal generation. The Guiteras is not listed in any of these categories.
The SEN is interconnected from Pinar del Río to Holguín, while Santiago de Cuba, Granma, and Guantánamo operate with isolated microsystems awaiting the entry of Unit 1 of the Felton Thermoelectric Power Plant.
Girón reported that the Antonio Guiteras thermoelectric power station is making progress in repair work following its unexpected disconnection from the SEN. The new breakdown in the boiler is not related to the previous incident, and key components such as heaters, burners, and valves will be inspected.
The shutdown of Guiteras on Thursday triggered a partial collapse of the National Electric System (SEN) at 06:09, leaving the entire central and eastern regions of the country without electricity from Ciego de Ávila to Guantánamo. This is the ninth failure of Guiteras in 2026, occurring just five days after its resynchronization to the SEN on May 9, following 90 hours of downtime and nearly 300 corrective actions.
The same type of failure —boiler leak— had already taken the plant out of service on May 5, indicating that the previous repair did not address the underlying issue. The plant has gone over 15 years without a major maintenance, the last being in 2010, and its director has acknowledged that it needs at least 180 days of shutdown for that maintenance, although he admitted that "the country's situation does not allow for it right now."
The energy context is devastating. The Minister of Energy and Mines, Vicente de la O Levy, publicly admitted that Cuba "has absolutely no fuel, no diesel, only associated gas," describing the situation as "acute, critical, and extremely tense."
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