The Antonio Guiteras Thermoelectric Power Plant, Cuba's largest electricity producer, is scheduled to resume operations this Saturday following a planned 96-hour maintenance period that began on Tuesday. Official journalist Jose Miguel Solís announced on Facebook that the repair work, which encountered unexpected challenges, is expected to conclude around 7:00 p.m. on Saturday.
The startup and synchronization process of the plant is anticipated to take between 6 and 8 hours. The plant's director, Rubén Campos Olmos, had previously mentioned that efforts were being intensified to restart the plant after 48 hours of maintenance due to an excessive buildup of ash and severe fouling of the heat exchange surfaces.
Located in Matanzas, the Guiteras plant has been in operation for 37 years without significant interruptions, well beyond its projected lifespan of 30 years. During this time, the plant has burned over 9 million tons of national crude oil, causing substantial wear and tear on its equipment and infrastructure, necessitating increasingly complex and costly maintenance.
The current maintenance work aims to restore the plant's capacity to generate more than 250 megawatts (MW) of power, a critical figure to alleviate the severe energy crisis plaguing the country, where power outages can last up to 20 hours a day. However, the plant's accumulated wear and tear has turned each maintenance effort into a technical and logistical challenge, highlighting the fragility of the national electrical system and the lack of foresight by the island's leadership.
Earlier in November, the plant had already faced operational issues, including a gas leak that reduced its generation capacity to only 175 MW. This prompted authorities to halt operations to carry out these essential repairs.