The Antonio Guiteras thermoelectric power plant (CTE), the largest electricity generation facility in Cuba, was synchronized with the National Electric System this Sunday, as reported by the Matanzas facility itself on Facebook.
"Guiteras is online at 150 MW and increasing load. Stabilizing parameters," he detailed in another post.
The news comes after weeks of repairs following the eighth total collapse of the Cuban electrical system, which occurred on September 18, causing further damage to the economizer of the Guiteras boiler—described as "punctures at several points on the steam generator"—and an additional leak detected during a hydraulic test on September 23, which further extended the technical intervention.
However, the reintroduction of Guiteras does not suffice to compensate for the severe energy deficit that persists on the Island, which was worsened this Sunday by another breakdown at a plant in the system.
La Unión Eléctrica (UNE) reported on Facebook that unit 3 of the Carlos Manuel de Céspedes Thermoelectric Plant, in Cienfuegos, is offline "due to steam leakage in high-pressure heater 7."
This unit had just been reconnected three days earlier —on September 24— after a previous outage on September 6 due to a failure in the air compressor switch.
The UNE report for this Sunday reveals a critical situation: at 6:00 am, the system's availability was just 1,240 MW against a demand of 2,750 MW, with 1,500 MW affected.
"For peak demand, a availability of 1240 MW is expected with a maximum demand of 3050 MW, resulting in a deficit of 1810 MW. Therefore, if the anticipated conditions persist, an impact of 1840 MW is forecasted during this period," it specifies.
On Saturday, the situation was equally dire: the electricity service was interrupted due to capacity deficits for 24 hours, including the entire night, with a maximum impact of 2,044 MW recorded at 9:10 PM.
In addition to Unit 3 of the CTE Carlos Manuel de Céspedes, Unit 3 of the CTE Cienfuegos, Unit 2 of the CTE Felton, and Unit 6 of the CTE Renté are out of operation, while three other units remain under scheduled maintenance at the plants in Santa Cruz, Nuevitas, and Renté.
The limitations in thermal generation amount to 414 MW, and the only partial relief came from the solar photovoltaic parks, which contributed 4,024 MWh on Saturday with a peak power of 626 MW around noon.
The CTE Guiteras has recorded at least 17 unplanned outages in 2026, with the economizer of its boiler—having operated continuously for 38 years in a highly corrosive environment—being the most frequent cause of its failures.
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