The Antonio Guiteras Thermoelectric Plant, the largest generating plant in Cuba, faced a new setback in its repair process this Wednesday: a leak detected during the hydraulic test of the economizer necessitates extending the work and delays its reconnection to the National Electric System, as reported by the facility on its official Facebook page, as noted by Periódico Girón.
The plant, located in Matanzas, specified that "due to the configuration of this added component, we will continue to work uninterruptedly to resolve the situation as quickly as possible" and that once the leak is fixed, a hydraulic test will be repeated to verify the proper functioning of the component before attempting to start it.
This setback is a direct continuation of the crisis that began on Friday, September 19, when the eighth general blackout of the SEN in 2026 caused mechanical tensions that damaged the boiler at Guiteras.
The general director of the plant, Román Pérez Castañeda, then reported that there were suspected "punctures at various points of the steam generator," and a preliminary inspection confirmed that the malfunction was located in the economizer.
The cooling of the boiler after the disconnection took nearly 72 hours, which meant that the teams from the Electrical Central Maintenance Company (EMCE) could not begin the inspection until the afternoon of Monday, September 21.
At the time of the SEN collapse, the Guiteras had accumulated 44 consecutive days online —since its reactivation on August 4— with an average output of 185 MW, a streak that the government had celebrated as a milestone.
The economizer is the most problematic component of the plant: it has been responsible for about half of the at least 17 unscheduled outages of the SEN that Guiteras accumulated between January and July of this year.
The component consists of 136 elements made up of three tubes each and shows widespread deterioration. The definitive solution would require replacing approximately 500 tubes and between 1,000 and 1,200 welding seams during a downtime of about 180 days, a capital maintenance that the authorities acknowledge is necessary but have been unable to carry out since 2010.
Partial repairs—specific tube replacements and redoing welds—create a repetitive cycle of shutdowns, brief reconnections, and new breakdowns, of which the leak detected this Wednesday is the most recent manifestation.
In its morning production report, the plant also announced that it held the Production Committee meeting to review the work carried out during the night and early morning, confirming that welding activities are ongoing in the affected areas.
While the country's main generating unit remains out of service, Cuba recorded a mere 1,105 MW availability this Wednesday against a projected demand of 3,170 MW, which continues to lead to extended blackouts in Matanzas and other provinces.
The Electric Union had warned in August that several thermal power units could be undergoing maintenance or repairs between September and December, further worsening the country's electrical situation.
The CTE management announced that it will continue to keep the public informed about the progress of the work and the repetition of the hydraulic test, a necessary step prior to the final start-up of the unit.
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