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The Antonio Guiteras Thermal Power Plant, the largest unit block for electricity generation in Cuba, could synchronize this Monday after a recent forced shutdown that led to three unscheduled outages in a short period, the most recent being due to a fault in the economizer.
The engineer Román Pérez Castañeda, the general director of the plant, presented two possible scenarios on Sunday: “An optimistic forecast would be tomorrow in the early afternoon, perhaps between 3 and 4 PM. A more cautious forecast, if the X-ray tests and hydraulic tests indicate any issues, would mean that the repair could extend into Monday morning.”
This is the ninth outage of the National Electroenergetic System (SEN) in 2026, a figure that reflects the critical state of Cuban energy infrastructure.
The plant had been synchronized with the SEN on May 9 after a shutdown of approximately 90 hours and nearly 300 corrective actions, but it failed again just five days later, on May 14, due to a leak in the boiler.
That failure triggered a partial collapse of the SEN at 6:09 AM, causing blackouts from Ciego de Ávila to Guantánamo.
Pérez Castañeda acknowledged the seriousness of the situation: "Unfortunately, in a very short time, we have had three departures."
“One for the high-temperature reheater, where it was necessary to repair eight tubes; then we had a breakdown in the regenerative air heater; and this last one in the economizer.”
The forced shutdown, however, is allowing for deeper repairs at the points where the previous failures occurred.
Regarding the status of the work, the director explained that four weld beads were required for the high-temperature reheater, of which three had already been completed at the time of the report.
In the economizer area, the direct cause of the last outage, it was necessary to replace two segments of two bends with four welds; two had been completed, and radiographic inspection had been carried out.
In addition to the main repairs, the team is carrying out over 260 additional activities, including electrical and automation tasks, as well as preventive measures to protect panels and electrical boxes from moisture, a recurring cause of previous failures.
The cleaning of the boiler furnace was also carried out, where ash and slag had accumulated due to a prolonged lack of maintenance. Additionally, a sealing problem at the bottom of the boiler was corrected, which had been causing gas and glowing material leaks for about an hour.
The energy context in which these repairs are taking place is extremely serious: on May 13, Cuba recorded a record deficit of 2,153 MW, and the Minister of Energy and Mines, Vicente de la O Levy, publicly acknowledged that the country was "without fuel" in a situation that was "acute, critical, and extremely tense."
La Guiteras, inaugurated in 1988 and never subjected to comprehensive capital maintenance in over 36 years, contributes between 20% and 25% of the national thermal generation when operating at full capacity, making each of its breakdowns a direct hit to the electrical supply of millions of Cubans.
Pérez Castañeda himself has acknowledged that the plant requires at least 180 days of shutdown for thorough maintenance, a disruption made unfeasible by the country's electrical crisis.
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