"They are not poorly executed repairs," says executive after third breakdown in a month at Guiteras

The Antonio Guiteras Thermoelectric Power Plant, located in Matanzas, went offline from the National Electric System for the third time in May at 4:12 AM this Sunday, when a leak in the boiler forced the shutdown of the unit that was generating 200 megawatts at that time.

The general director of the plant, Román Pérez Castañeda, addressed the criticisms regarding the quality of previous repairs and denied that the recurrence of failures is due to poorly executed work.

"Unfortunately, we have experienced several brief outages in recent weeks, but it is important to emphasize that these are not due to poorly executed repair work. The Guiteras returns to the SEN only when the established tests indicate the expected results, and the failures have occurred in different locations," said the executive to the Cuban News Agency.

In statements to the Periódico Girón, Pérez Castañeda clarified the nature of the malfunction: "We had a water leak. We still haven't been able to go in and inspect. We are currently carrying out assisted cooling using fans, which will allow us to access the boiler in about 30-36 hours. In the previous incident, the cooling occurred naturally, taking about 12 hours longer."

Once the cooling process is complete, the technicians must accurately locate the point of failure, design the repair plan, and conduct radiographic and hydraulic tests before attempting to start it up.

This is the third outage of the Guiteras in the month of May. The first occurred on May 5, resulting in a loss of approximately 140 megawatts. The second happened on May 14, when a leak in the boiler caused a record deficit of 2,174 megawatts and a partial system collapse from Ciego de Ávila to Guantánamo.

After that second breakdown, the plant was reconnected to the system on May 18 at 11:06 PM, after four days of repairs that included a failed tube in the high-temperature reheater, two failed tubes in the economizer, and issues with tightness in the furnace floor.

Just six days after that reintegration, the plant failed again.

The plant has been in operation for over 36 years since its inauguration in 1988, and its last major maintenance took place in 2010, which explains the recurring failures in the boiler and its components. Technical sources indicate that such comprehensive maintenance would require at least 180 days of downtime, something that the authorities themselves acknowledge "the situation in the country still does not permit."

The new breakdown exacerbates an already critical electricity crisis. On Saturday, the deficit was nearing 2,000 megawatts, with availability of only 1,310 megawatts against a demand of 3,200. For this Sunday, the Electric Union projected a deficit of 1,960 megawatts during peak hours.

"Only after entering the boiler and inspecting it will it be possible to identify the location of the damage, design the repair plan, carry out the repairs, and finally verify that the issue has been resolved," concluded Pérez Castañeda, without providing an estimated date for returning to the system.