Havana/The anxiety of living in a blackout in blackout has no end for Cubans who, in recent days, have suffered a deficit greater than 1,500 megawatts (MW). This Sunday, Antonio Guiteras thermoelectric plant, from Matanzas, left out of the National Electric System (SEN) around 8:15 in the morning “for a cause not yet identified,” said the official press. However, late at night, the problem had been solved and began to synchronize again with the SEN.
“Solved the inconvenience in the departure substation of the Matancera unit in which members of the Electric Industry Constructions Company (ECIE) worked,” said Matancero journalist José Miguel Solís, who placed at 4:58 in the afternoon The repair time, prior to stabilization to start uploading the load.
The engineer Rubén Campos Olmos, general director of La Guiteras said that the failure was due to “unforeseen events that usually occur.” However, he admitted that “the deficit is high in the nation and the Yumurino contribution contributes to something, but it is not a solution.”
“The origin of the problem is investigated” and, in case no damage is reported that entails a repair, the CTE “could start starting in the next hours”
With a 330 MW generation capacity, the largest central in the country had disconnected from SEN in the middle of last month after a technological failure in the boiler. Then, the arrangement lasted nine days after which the thermoelectric plant managed to synchronize without any setback on January 27, but only for a week.
Lázaro Guerra Hernández, director of Electricity of the Ministry of Energy and Mines, announced that Block 3 of the Antonio Maceo thermoelectric plant, Santiago de Cuba, was also incorporated into SEN, and that diesel was expected that would improve the availability of the distributed generation.
The units 1 of the Ernesto Che Guevara of Santa Cruz del Norte, and 5 of October ten, in Nuevitas, both with 70 MW, must also be recovered on Monday.
“Yesterday was marked by a maximum deficit of about 1 800 megawatts, in which both the lack of fuels and that were outside the system important generating machines in the country influenced,” said the specialist.
The country has mired in an energy crisis for years due to the lack of fuel – the lack of currency to import it – and for frequent breakdowns in its obsolete thermoelectric central, with decades of exploitation and a chronic investment deficit. The situation has been aggravated since the end of August and early 2025, despite the low temperatures, the deficit has remained above 1,000 MW.
