The Antonio Guiteras Thermoelectric Power Plant, the largest in Cuba, came offline this Tuesday at 10:11 PM, according to a report by the Electric Union (UNE) on its Facebook page.
The official report indicated that the outage occurred due to causes yet to be identified, making this new breakdown the latest in a series that seems endless.
What makes this fall particularly striking is the time the plant managed to stay upright: only 24 hours.
This Tuesday, the UNE had enthusiastically announced that the facility in Matanzas had synchronized with the National Electric System at 10:06 PM on Monday and was "increasing load".
The announcement of the brief reconnection triggered a flood of irony in the comments. “Let's see how many minutes it lasts,” wrote one user. “It’s going to go down again soon, just a matter of minutes,” predicted another.
A third person summarized the collective frustration with sarcasm: "How great, now we'll see improvement. It won't be 40 hours of blackout anymore, now it'll be 39".
The disbelief mingled with the desperation of those who had been without electricity for hours or days. “Who is that power for? I’ve been in the dark for 20 hours,” asked an internet user.
From Encrucijada, a user wrote: «Let's see if after almost 60 hours the municipality gets at least one hour of power, because this is too much». From Pinar del Río, another reported 42 consecutive hours without electricity: «This is not living».
The Guiteras thermoelectric plant has recorded at least 17 unscheduled outages during 2026.
Its record for just October is devastating: it went out on October 4 after repairs were made to the high-temperature reheater, fell again on October 9 due to a leak in the steam tempering line, and on October 14, it suffered another breakdown in the economizer of its boiler, with additional damage to the low-temperature reheater.
Between October 15 and 17, technicians replaced 11 pipe segments and conducted hydraulic and pneumatic tests to certify the welding work. The result of all that effort was a connection lasting just 24 hours.
The plant, inaugurated in 1988 and located in Matanzas, has been in operation for more than 38 years and has not received major maintenance since 2010. Its nominal capacity is up to 316 MW, but its current condition makes it a constant source of uncertainty for the national electrical system.
On October 17, the UNE described it as "the largest and most efficient unified block in Cuba," a statement that triggered massive ridicule on social media while the plant remained out of service.
This new downturn exacerbates an energy crisis that was already catastrophic.
This Tuesday, the Cuban electrical system could only provide 920 MW against a demand of 2,820 MW, with a projected deficit of 1,850 MW. Power outages lasting 20, 40, and even more than 60 consecutive hours have become routine in provinces such as Matanzas, Pinar del Río, and Villa Clara, where some towns exceeded 70 hours without electricity in recent days.
The electrical collapse is dragging down the water supply: the regime admitted that 2.5 million Cubans —32% of those who receive water through networks— have their service interrupted, with 88% of incidents attributed to electrical problems. Desperation has led to spontaneous protests in Artemisa, Granma, and Cienfuegos.
Enough is enough: whether Guiteras entered or left, inside or outside it’s the same garbage, the same torture of blackouts continues for the unfortunate, wrote an outraged Cuban on the UNE profile. Those who need to leave and not come in are a bunch of people we have in positions who make promises and do not fulfill them.
Related videos:
Filed under: