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The Antonio Guiteras Power Plant went offline from the National Electric System in the early hours of this Monday due to a new leak in the boiler, as confirmed by Unión Eléctrica (UNE) on Facebook.
“In the early hours of the morning, the CTE Antonio Guiteras was out of service due to a leak in the boiler,” the UNE reported succinctly.
The breakdown occurs just three days after the plant was reconnected to the system last Thursday, when the UNE announced its reconnection at 12:07 PM.
This new release from the SEN would be the 15th of the year for Cuba's most important and highest-capacity thermoelectric plant.
A system on the verge of collapse
The impact of the Guiteras power plant's exit from the grid on the electrical system is immediate and severe.
According to the information note from UNE published this Monday, the system availability at 6:00 AM was only 995 MW against a demand of 2,620 MW, with 1,630 MW affected.
The day before, on Sunday, the situation had already been critical:
"The maximum impact from the generation capacity deficit yesterday was 1,882 MW at 9:50 PM, with outages lasting throughout the 24 hours of the day."
For the peak hours this Monday, the outlook is even gloomier.
The UNE projects a availability of 995 MW against a maximum demand of 3,050 MW, and an impact close to the record figure reached in May:
"For the peak demand period, a capacity of 995 MW is expected with a maximum demand of 3,050 MW, resulting in a deficit of 2,055 MW. Therefore, if the anticipated conditions persist, a shortfall of 2,085 MW is forecasted during this period."
Multiple simultaneous failures
Guiteras is not the only plant out of service.
According to today's report from UNE, the following units are also out of service: Unit 6 of the Máximo Gómez Power Plant, Unit 3 of the Ernesto Guevara De La Serna Power Plant, Unit 2 of the Lidio Ramón Pérez Power Plant, and Unit 3 of the Antonio Maceo Power Plant.
Unit 5 of the Mariel CTE, Units 5 and 6 of the Renté CTE, and Unit 5 of the Nuevitas CTE are currently under scheduled maintenance.
This is compounded by the fuel shortage: 106 distributed generation plants are out of service due to a lack of fuel, equivalent to 890 MW.
The Patana de Regla, the Patana de Melones, the Central Fuel de Mariel, and the Central Fuel de Moa are also inoperative, resulting in a total of 1,203 MW unavailable solely due to fuel.
La Guiteras: 15 years without major maintenance
The exit this Monday is not an isolated event.
La Guiteras returned to the system last Thursday after its 14th breakdown of the year, which occurred during the early hours of Saturday, June 7, also due to leaks in the boiler.
The structural deterioration of the facility has an underlying cause that the authorities acknowledge but fail to address.
The director of the plant, Román Pérez Castañeda, acknowledged in May that the Guiteras requires a major maintenance of at least 180 days and that the last one was carried out in 2010, over 15 years ago: “The country's situation still does not allow it.”
The Minister of Energy and Mines, Vicente de la O Levy, promised this maintenance for the end of 2025, postponed it in December citing a "conjunctural issue," and pledged again in April 2026 without a specific date.
Solar energy is not sufficient
The 54 new photovoltaic solar parks generated 3,070 MWh on Sunday, with a peak power of 489 MW during the midday hours.
However, their contribution is insufficient to offset the structural deficit, especially during peak demand hours at night, when solar generation is nonexistent and demand reaches its peak.
In Havana, power outages have reached 20-22 hours daily in May and June 2026; in provinces like Granma, outages of more than 48 consecutive hours have been recorded.
The record deficit for the year so far was recorded on May 14: 2,174 MW, with only 976 MW available against a demand of 3,150 MW.
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