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The Antonio Guiteras thermoelectric plant in Matanzas remains offline from the National Electric System (SEN) this Friday, currently undergoing repairs after experiencing its ninth breakdown of 2026 the day before, while the Electric Union (UNE) refrained from mentioning it in both its daily report and the television broadcast regarding the energy crisis.
The omission is particularly significant because Guiteras is the largest unified generation block in the country and a critical component for sustaining an increasingly fragile electric system.
However, the official report from the UNE only mentioned breakdowns in Unit six of the Máximo Gómez CTE, Unit one of the Ernesto Guevara de la Serna CTE, Unit two of the Lidio Ramón Pérez CTE, and Unit five of the Antonio Maceo CTE, without including the plant in Matanzas.
The general director of Guiteras, Román Pérez Castañeda, stated to the official newspaper Girón that the new malfunction in the boiler “has no connection with the last incident,” although he acknowledged that the repeated shutdowns necessitate a reassessment of already compromised components.
"As we have had two or three consecutive outings, this time we will focus on reviewing and repairing the elements that have contributed to those breakdowns or that we have identified as problematic," he stated.
The work focuses on the regenerative air heaters (CAR), the burners, the tightness of the furnace, and several valves that affect the operation of the plant.
Pérez also admitted that the process cannot be rushed. "The first hours (more than 35) are always for cooling down and preparation. After that, an inspection is conducted to locate the damage, determine how to carry out repair actions, make the repairs, and then verify that what was done was correct."
The executive estimated on Thursday that the repair could take three to four days, although the critical path should not exceed 72 hours.
The breakdown occurred just five days after the plant was synchronized to the national electricity grid on May 9, following a shutdown of nearly 90 hours with around 300 corrective actions.
The same type of failure, a boiler drain issue, had already rendered Guiteras out of service on May 5, highlighting that partial repairs do not address the underlying structural problem.
The departure of Guiteras triggered a partial collapse of the SEN on Thursday at 6:09 AM, leaving the entire central and eastern region of Cuba without electricity, from Ciego de Ávila to Guantánamo.
At 6:30 AM on Thursday, the availability was only 636 MW compared to a demand of 2,420 MW, with 1,790 MW affected.
This Friday, the situation improved slightly. The UNE reported a supply of 1,241 MW at 6:30 AM, with a demand of 2,800 MW and 1,565 MW affected, following a peak impact on Thursday of 1,991 MW at 9:20 PM.
Inaugurated in 1988, the country's main thermoelectric plant has been in operation for 38 years, and its last major maintenance was in 2010, accumulating over 15 years without a complete shutdown.
Pérez Castañeda himself has acknowledged that the plant requires at least 180 days of shutdown for maintenance, but that "the situation in the country still does not allow it."
The national energy context exacerbates the situation: the Minister of Energy and Mines, Vicente de la O Levy, admitted on Wednesday, May 13, that Cuba "is out of fuel" —neither diesel nor fuel oil— and described the situation as "acute, critical, and extremely tense."
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