The Antonio Guiteras Thermoelectric Power Plant, the largest electricity generation facility in Cuba, was reconnected to the National Electroenergetic System (SEN) at 04:36 this Wednesday, as confirmed by the Electric Union on their page.
The news is not very encouraging: the previous reconnection, which took place on Monday at 22:06, lasted only 24 hours before the plant went down again at 22:11 on Tuesday, due to "causes yet to be identified," according to UNE itself.
In that brief window, the director general of the facility, Román A. Pérez Castañeda, reported that the plant was generating approximately 150 MW, well below its nominal capacity of 316 MW.
Only in October, the Guiteras experienced breakdowns on the 4th, 9th, and 14th of that month. The last failure affected the economizer of the boiler and caused additional damage to the low-temperature reheater. Between the 15th and 17th, technicians replaced 11 tube segments and conducted hydraulic and pneumatic tests before attempting the reconnection on Monday.
As of 2026, the plant has recorded at least 17 unplanned outages, including an incident in July where it remained connected for only 26 minutes.
Inaugurated in 1988, the facility has been in operation for over 38 years without receiving major maintenance since 2010. A comprehensive repair would require replacing more than 500 tubes, performing between 1,000 and 1,200 welding seams, and a planned shutdown of at least 180 days.
Citizen skepticism regarding each new reconnection is complete. The comments on the UNE's post reflect exhaustion: "A sneeze and zassss," wrote one user.
Another was more direct: «The Guiteras is the living image of the system. Completely failed». A third, with apparent technical knowledge, warned: «It is better to fix everything properly and make a durable start than to keep patching things up».
The energy backdrop is one of structural collapse. On Tuesday, the Cuban electrical system had only 920 MW available against a demand of 2,820 MW, with a projected deficit of 1,850 MW. Towns in Matanzas such as Manuelito, Bolondrón, and Unión de Reyes experienced over 70 hours without electricity in recent days, while some circuits in Pinar del Río have faced more than 90 hours in the dark.
The electricity crisis is also impacting 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 the incidents attributed to electrical problems. The desperation has led to spontaneous protests in Artemisa, Granma, and Cienfuegos.
On October 17, while Guiteras was out of service, the UNE labeled it as "the largest and most efficient unit block in Cuba", a statement that triggered a wave of ridicule on social media. The response from one user summed up the popular sentiment: "Pending issues haha, this sounds like a novel title. It's a shame that what the people are experiencing feels like a series, but a TERROR series."
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