Antonio Guiteras Power Plant Reconnects with Cuba’s National Electric Grid

The Antonio Guiteras thermoelectric power plant, located in Matanzas, successfully reconnected with Cuba's National Electric Grid this Thursday at 3:41 PM, following an unexpected shutdown the previous day. According to a report by the Girón newspaper on their social media, this plant was responsible for a major blackout, leaving the island in darkness for over a day.

Rubén Campos Olmo, the plant's director, detailed that during the downtime, approximately 15 technical tasks were performed. These included cleaning of regenerative air heaters, fixing a hermeticity defect, and making adjustments to feed pumps and the forced draft fan. He indicated that these efforts might eliminate the need for a scheduled maintenance stop later this month, unless water consumption increases, although history suggests the plant might need to be halted again.

The unit noted on its profile that they were stabilizing parameters and "continuing to increase load." The incorporation of the Guiteras plant was also confirmed by the Union Eléctrica on social media. This comeback follows one of the most significant blackouts in recent times, marking the fifth national energy collapse in under a year and the second in 2025, highlighting the frail state of Cuba's electric system.

Earlier, state journalist José Miguel Solís had posted on Facebook that the "Guiteras" was "spinning the turbine to stabilize at 3,600 revolutions per minute in an attempt to synchronize," describing this as a critical moment. Following the massive outage, the regime disclosed that a false superheated steam signal in the boiler triggered the automatic shutdown of the Antonio Guiteras plant, leading to the second massive blackout this year. This was confirmed by Girón, which reported that the automatic boiler scheme was dismantled due to the anomaly, causing the thermal block to disconnect.

While the regime announced the restoration of the National Electric Grid on Thursday, many people are still experiencing power outages and their associated hardships. The government has admitted that without the Guiteras plant, Cuba's electric system struggles to maintain "stability." "Its return will allow for load stabilization and broadening of the electric coverage nationwide," emphasized the Cuban state television.