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The Antonio Guiteras Thermoelectric Power Plant, located in Matanzas, may attempt to synchronize with the National Electro-Energetic System early Wednesday morning, according to journalist José Miguel Solís in a Facebook post shared in recent hours.
However, the start is not guaranteed: it depends on the favorable results of the radiological analyses of the welds and the conclusive hydraulic test, two technical steps that the workers still needed to complete.
"The truth is that for just over 72 hours, work inside the boiler has not been interrupted, and the area of exploration has also been widened in search of possible faults," wrote Solís.
Even if the plant manages to connect to the system, the blackouts will not stop: the forecast from the National Electroenergetic System sets an estimated deficit of 2,010 MW for the peak hours of this Wednesday, a figure that Guiteras —with its capacity of 230 MW— cannot cover alone.
The Guiteras thermoelectric plant is still not operational since it went offline on June 5 due to a new leak in the boiler, marking its thirteenth outage in 2026 so far.
Solís described the situation as "a moment of anticipation" exacerbated by the fact that the general maintenance of the plant has been postponed for over 16 years, since 2010.
The director of the facility, Román Pérez Castañeda, publicly acknowledged after the latest breakdown that they do not have the necessary parts for a more extensive repair, and that the plant would require a shutdown of approximately 180 days for comprehensive capital maintenance, something that the national energy crisis has hindered.
In the repair completed on June 3 —which allowed for a brief synchronization before the new malfunction— a total of 544 weld seams were reviewed, of which 172 were repaired, and the thickness was measured at more than 850 points, which necessitated replacing five supports in the boiler.
The Guiteras is the largest combined generation unit in the Cuban electrical system, inaugurated in 1988, so every outage immediately exacerbates the national deficit and prolongs the blackouts affecting millions of Cubans.
The structural deterioration of the plant is the direct result of decades of disinvestment by the regime, which has prioritized keeping the plant partially operational over addressing the prolonged shutdown that necessitates a thorough intervention.
On June 8, the Electric Company of Havana forecasted an impact of 1,650 MW both at noon and during peak hours, which resulted in power outages lasting several hours in the capital and throughout the country.
"Whatever the outcome, the fact is that everything within reach has been done, and undoubtedly, even a little more," concluded Solís, in what seems to be an implicit acknowledgment that the workers have operated at the limit of their capabilities with the resources available.
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