The Antonio Guiteras Thermal Power Plant is once again out of the National Electro-Energy System (SEN), and this Thursday, the Electric Union (UNE) confirmed that, after the cooling of the boiler was completed, the plant workers are now searching for the exact fault that caused the new breakdown.
The outage is related to the fifth total collapse of the National Electric System, which occurred on Tuesday at 11:05 in the morning, during which a new malfunction in the thermoelectric plant was detected.
According to UNE, the team is working simultaneously on three fronts: "Identification of the damaged area – exact location of the fault. Integrity testing – to rule out other damaged pipes and ensure a definitive repair. Repair and commissioning – once the fault is resolved, the unit will be incorporated into the SEN."
The pattern repeats with a regularity that no one in Cuba can ignore anymore: partial repair, reintegration into the SEN for a few days, and new breakdowns in the same critical area.
The collapse of the SEN –last Tuesday– further worsened the condition of the Guiteras, the largest in the country, which was already suffering from a prior structural weakness, admitted the Minister of Energy and Mines, Vicente de la O Levy, during a televised appearance.
The event caused a leak in its boiler, the extent of which was being assessed at that time.
"We must wait for it to cool down before making a decision. At that time, the public will be informed whether the repair will take two, three, four days, or however long it takes," explained De la O Levy.
So far in 2026, the plant has recorded at least 17 unscheduled outages from the SEN, many of which are caused by the same component: the economizer of the boiler, which has been in continuous operation for 38 years in a highly corrosive environment, accounting for 50% of all plant shutdowns.
A definitive repair would require replacing around 500 tubes and executing between 1,000 and 1,200 weld seams over a shutdown of at least 180 days, an operation that the authorities have deemed unfeasible. The plant has not received major maintenance since 2010, accumulating 16 years without significant intervention.
While the workers at Guiteras track down the broken pipe, the plant is organizing a "100 Years with Fidel Day" promoted by the Union of Young Communists, with scheduled activities from July 13 to August 13.
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