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Guiteras thermal power plant goes offline over “turbine vibrations”

The state utility UNE announced on Facebook that the country's largest generating plant went offline on Saturday, October 24, at 20:11 because of a mechanical failure, according to CiberCuba and Periódico Cubano. It is its fourth outage in October and comes three days after it last returned to service.

The Antonio Guiteras thermal power plant, in Matanzas, Cuba's largest generating unit, again dropped out of the National Electric Power System (SEN) on Saturday, October 24, at 20:11. The cause given by the Unión Eléctrica (UNE) on its Facebook page was “turbine vibrations”, a mechanical failure different from the boiler and economizer breakdowns that had caused its earlier outages this month. The state company did not specify the origin of the vibrations or give a repair timetable.

The plant has strung together a series of breakdowns in October: on the 9th because of a leak in a steam attemperation line and on the 14th because of a leak in the boiler's economizer, with damage to the low-temperature reheater, for which technicians replaced 11 tube segments. After synchronizing again, it went down once more on the 20th and did not return to the SEN until 04:36 the following day, generating about 150 MW, less than half its rated capacity of 316 MW.

The power system was already in deficit before the latest disconnection. At 06:00 on Saturday, UNE reported 915 MW of available generation against demand of 2,104 MW, with 1,177 MW out of service at that moment. For the peak it forecast demand of 2,850 MW and a maximum shortfall of 1,865 MW, figures that do not include the effect of the nighttime outage.

The blackouts of October 24 hit several provinces hard. In Holguín, some circuits had accumulated interruptions of between 14 hours 19 minutes and 18 hours 22 minutes as of 09:25. In Havana, 109 affected circuits and a shortfall of 268 MW were reported at 03:45, still at 227 MW at 06:00. Sancti Spíritus recorded 61 MW affected by the generation deficit.

Guiteras is not the only plant with problems. At the Antonio Maceo thermal power plant, in Santiago de Cuba, units three and six were out of service with breakdowns and unit five was under maintenance, which reduces the system's capacity to offset the lost generation in Matanzas.

The Matanzas plant has been running for some 38 years without a deep capital overhaul. Through July 2026 it had recorded at least 17 unscheduled outages and, between January and May alone, 293 hours out of service because of economizer problems. On October 1, its unexpected outage coincided with failures at the Felton plant and caused the total collapse of the SEN, the ninth nationwide blackout of the year.

Sources: CiberCuba · Periódico Cubano · Serie Yamacoa: Afectación eléctrica máxima prevista en el horario pico (Unión Eléctrica (UNE))

Data updated: 2026-10-25T04:15:00.000Z

Guiteras thermal power plant goes offline over “turbine vibrations” | Yamacoa Observatory