The maintenance work at the Antonio Guiteras Thermoelectric Power Plant (CTE) in Matanzas enters its final stretch, after the plant went out of circulation on November 4 due to a breakdown in the regenerative air heaters, which precipitated a process of comprehensive repair to try to achieve stability in the generation of the most important unit in the country.
Around 800 specialists from different spheres have worked on the installation since last Saturday, November 5, and the maintenance tasks are expected to last until the end of next week, when the plant is supposed to be able to contribute to the National Electric System.
According to information from the official newspaper Granma, actions have been carried out so far in areas of support for the generation process, as well as cleaning, repair, painting and conservation tasks, with the participation of paileros, welders, electricians, mechanics and technicians. of various specialties.
The Guiteras had not been subjected to such prolonged maintenance – an estimated 12 days – for years, so the current process is of vital importance to resolve the greater number of technical difficulties in order to achieve more stability in the generation.
“We don’t do anything with reaching 280 megawatts and going out again a week. Hence, the main objective of this maintenance is to be able to extend the permanence of the plant online, with reliability parameters,” the general director of the Matanzas unit, engineer Misbel Palmero Aguiar, explained to Granma.
The director himself clarified that the fact of going into maintenance after stopping the thermoelectric plant due to a breakdown did not represent a problem in the organization of the process, since they had already been preparing for a stop of this nature. In addition, he pointed out that so far they have not faced difficulties with the supply of supplies and materials necessary to undertake the repair work.
According to Granma, workers from different provinces involved in maintenance hope that this intervention in the yumurina plant will take a little less time than expected, without this meaning less rigor in the work. In fact, they say, “these experiences in control and supervision are vital and help to avoid oversights.”
The return to the Guiteras system is a priority for the Electric Union of Cuba, which has been facing a complex energy crisis for months. Different factors have combined for the exponential increase in blackouts on the Island, including lack of fuel, breakages and failures in outdated thermoelectric plants and scheduled maintenance.
Seven of the eight onshore plants are over 40 years old, when the average age of these infrastructures is 30. To further aggravate the situation, these plants have not been able to undergo major repairs in years, largely due to the difficulties and restrictions imposed by the commercial and financial blockade of the United States against Cuba.
The Cuban government, which has also been singled out over the last decade for its lack of foresight in dealing with a possible energy crisis, announced in September that it intends to reduce blackouts before the end of this year with repairs and new investments.
