The thermoelectric plant Antonio Guiteras, the largest electricity generation facility in Cuba, disconnected again from the National Electric System (SEN) at 11:05 PM on Sunday, just a few hours after it had been reconnected, according to reporter José Miguel Solís citing the Electric Union (UNE).
The cause of this new service outage of La Guiteras is a leak in the front wall of the burners.
The plant, located in Matanzas, had managed to synchronize with the SEN on Sunday, the 27th with only 150 MW, with its technicians "stabilizing parameters," as reported by the facility itself on Facebook. The reconnection lasted less than a day.
The reintegration had come following weeks of repairs resulting from the eighth general blackout of the National Electric System, which occurred on September 18, causing further damage to the economizer of the plant's boiler. The director general of the Yumurino block, Román Pérez Castañeda, described these issues as "punctures in several points of the steam generator."
The cooling process of the boiler took nearly 72 hours before the teams could intervene, and on September 23, an additional leak was detected during a hydraulic test which further extended the repairs.
The UNE post published this Monday confirms that the Guiteras is out of service, along with unit three of the CTE Cienfuegos, unit two of the CTE Felton, and unit six of the CTE Renté. Three other units remain under scheduled maintenance.
The energy outlook for this Monday is critical: at 6:00 AM, the availability of the SEN was 1,045 MW compared to a demand of 2,647 MW, with 1,599 MW impacted. The limitations in thermal generation amount to 362 MW.
On Sunday, the maximum impact reached 1,953 MW at 9:00 PM, with outages lasting for 24 hours, including the entire early morning. The only partial relief came from the photovoltaic solar parks, which contributed 4,327 MWh with a peak power of 673 MW at noon.
La Guiteras accumulated in 2026 at least 17 unplanned outages, with the economizer of its boiler —operating continuously for 38 years and without major maintenance since 2010— being the most common cause of its failures. In July, the plant remained connected to the system for just 26 minutes before going offline again due to a breakdown.
For the peak hours this Monday, the UNE forecasts an availability of 1,160 MW against a maximum demand of 3,130 MW, resulting in a deficit of 1,970 MW. According to the official report: "if the predicted conditions persist, a shortfall of 2,000 MW is expected during this time," which anticipates another day of prolonged outages for millions of Cubans.
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