Antonio Guiteras Power Plant Faces Yet Another Shutdown in Cuba

The Antonio Guiteras Thermoelectric Power Plant, Cuba's largest electricity generation facility, experienced yet another shutdown this Wednesday due to a leak in the economizer (ECO), as reported by the Unión Eléctrica (UNE) at 8:14 a.m. through its official channels.

On Facebook, the plant's official page confirmed the malfunction with a brief message: "Antonio Guiteras CTE is out of service due to a leak in the ECO. Stay informed through official channels. Cooling process is underway."

Recurring Failures Plague the Plant

This latest incident is just one in a seemingly endless series of unscheduled outages that have plagued the Guiteras throughout 2026. Merely five days earlier, the plant had also gone offline due to a leak in a steam tempering line. At the time, technical deputy director Elmer García Romero assured that the repair of the damaged pipe would be completed in a few hours, and by 9:19 p.m. that same night, the unit was re-synchronized with the National Electroenergy System (SEN) and managed to generate around 180 MW.

Previously, on October 4th, the plant had rejoined the system after undergoing welding work, metallographic checks, and hydraulic testing on the high-temperature reheater, producing over 100 MW. A troubling pattern has emerged over the months: the Guiteras briefly returns to the system, contributes a fraction of its capacity, only to fail again. By early July, the plant had already experienced at least 17 unscheduled outages in the year, including an extreme case on July 18th, when it remained connected for just 26 minutes before failing again.

The Economizer: A Persistent Weakness

The component that failed again this Wednesday—the economizer—is a heat exchanger comprised of tube banks that utilize residual combustion gas heat to preheat the boiler's feedwater. With 38 years of continuous operation and no major maintenance since 2010, the ECO has been responsible for roughly half of the Guiteras's unscheduled outages in 2026.

From January to the end of May, defects in this component resulted in approximately 293 hours of downtime and contributed to at least 12 shutdowns. On September 19th, during the eighth general blackout of the SEN this year, the plant suffered another malfunction specifically in the economizer.

Fully repairing this component would entail replacing over 500 tubes and performing between 1,000 and 1,200 welds, requiring a shutdown of at least 180 days—something the Cuban electrical system cannot afford given its structural generation deficit.

An Electrical System on the Brink

The loss of the Guiteras—capable of contributing up to 316 MW under normal conditions—exacerbates an already critical situation. On the same Wednesday, the UNE reported an estimated availability of just 1,026 MW for peak demand times against a demand of 2,910 MW, resulting in a deficit of 1,884 MW and a predicted impact of 1,914 MW.

September proved disastrous, with 23 out of 28 days exceeding 2,000 MW of maximum impact, averaging approximately 2,093 MW, according to data compiled by Infobae. Structural issues—aging power plants and lack of investment—are compounded by a shortage of imported fuel. Lázaro Guerra Hernández, the General Director of Electricity at the Ministry of Energy and Mines, acknowledged that over 1,200 MW of installed capacity cannot be utilized due to fuel shortages, further widening the gap between supply and demand.

As the Guiteras undergoes cooling, pending yet another repair, millions of Cubans endure power outages lasting over 16 hours daily in many provinces, with no structural solution in sight.