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The Antonio Guiteras Power Plant was reconnected to the National Electric System (SEN) this Monday at 8:54 in the morning, according to announced by Unión Eléctrica on its social media with a brief message: “The Antonio Guiteras Power Plant Unit is online.”
The return comes after the plant in Matanzas recorded at least 16 system outages between January and mid-June, marking one of the most intense breakdown cycles in its recent history.
The last sequence began on June 15, when the plant shut down due to a leak in the boiler just three days after it resumed operations on the 12th of that month, and while it was only contributing about 100 MW, far below its maximum capacity of 330 MW.
On June 17, the plant director, Román Pérez Castañeda, explained that "a weld bead failed and damaged three more tubes." He announced that more than 100 defective weld beads. would be replaced.
On Sunday, the plant completed a hydraulic test as a preliminary step before starting up, and on Monday, it was reconnected to the system.
However, the return does not clarify the electrical outlook of the country. The informative note from UNE this Monday reveals that at 06:00 hours, the availability of the SEN was only 1,080 MW compared to a demand of 2,790 MW, with 1,709 MW affected.
For the peak nighttime hours, the agency anticipates that the Guiteras plant will contribute 200 MW "during the start-up process," but even so, the projected deficit reaches 1,920 MW.
"For peak demand hours, a capacity of 1,280 MW is estimated with a maximum demand of 3,200 MW, resulting in a deficit of 1,920 MW. Therefore, if the expected conditions persist, an impact of 1,950 MW during this period is forecasted," the statement says.
The previous day, the maximum impact reached 2,038 MW at 8:30 PM, while 106 distributed generation plants remain out of service due to a lack of fuel, equivalent to 890 MW, and the total megawatts unavailable for this reason amounts to 1,203.
The deterioration of the Guiteras has structural roots that no partial repair can resolve. The boiler has accumulated over 38 years of use and the plant has not received any major maintenance since 2010.
Pérez Castañeda has publicly acknowledged that at least 180 days of downtime are needed for a comprehensive review, but that "the situation in the country still does not allow for it."
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