The Antonio Guiteras thermoelectric power plant, the largest generating plant in Cuba, has recorded its fifth breakdown this Wednesday in October after identifying : a crack in the low-temperature superheater, another in the header of the steam drum —at the bottom of the boiler— and a third in the high-temperature reheater.
The evaluation concluded after the plant was disconnected from the National Electric Power System (SEN) due to low vacuum in the condenser, necessitating a thorough inspection that revealed the true extent of the damage.
The engineer Elmer García Romero, technical deputy director of the block, specified that “the high-temperature reheater is the component with the highest corrosion and complexity, which has required several corrective actions.” This is the component that had already concentrated six defects in its pipes by the end of September, when about 30 weld beads were needed to return it to service.
The only operational advantage in this scenario is that the three breakdowns can be addressed simultaneously. "All the breakdowns can be worked on concurrently, which shortens the repair time," noted García Romero. For now, it is estimated that there will be four days of work, although this timeframe will be adjusted once the critical path is established, which will include actions in the electrical and valve sectors, with a particular focus on automation.
In the work, personnel from the central Reparations base participate alongside brigades from the maintenance company districts for power plants in Santa Cruz del Norte, Cienfuegos, and Matanzas, working in continuous 24-hour shifts.
This is the fifth unplanned outage that the Guiteras has experienced in October. The sequence began on October 9 with a leak in the steam tempering line; on October 14, a leak in the economizer forced the replacement of 11 tube segments; on October 20, the plant was synchronized but fell again minutes later; and on October 24, it disconnected from the SEN due to vibrations in the turbine. The recurring failures in different systems—boiler, economizer, reheater, turbine, and condenser—highlight the accumulated structural deterioration of a facility that has not received comprehensive capital maintenance since 2010, despite surpassing 38 years of operation since its commissioning between 1988 and 1989.
The impact on the population is direct and immediate. This Wednesday, the Electric Union reported a generation capacity of only 885 MW against a demand of 2,900 MW, resulting in a generation deficit of 2,015 MW and an estimated maximum impact of 2,045 MW. The situation was further aggravated by the tripping of the 220 kV Pinar–Mariel line, which left the entire province of Pinar del Río isolated from the national grid since 1:21 PM.
Directors of the Unión Eléctrica have warned that a comprehensive repair of the Guiteras would require replacing more than 500 tubes, performing between 1,000 and 1,200 weld beads, and keeping the unit out of the system for at least 180 days, an intervention they deem unfeasible as it would leave the country without its largest generating block for six months.
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