Cuba's National Electric Union (UNE) is installing 5000 2 kW photovoltaic systems donated by China to diversify the energy matrix and ensure essential services amid the energy crisis. Of these, 2671 are allocated to vital centers across all municipalities, with the remainder going to isolated homes. Project head Elena Maidelín Ortiz Fernández emphasizes that the systems offer energy security during critical outages.
Cuba's National Electric Union (UNE) is implementing a program to install 5000 2 kW photovoltaic systems donated by the People's Republic of China. The aim is to diversify the energy matrix and guarantee essential services during the ongoing energy crisis.
Of the systems, 2671 were allocated to vital centers in all municipalities, through collaboration with national, provincial, and municipal agencies. Elena Maidelín Ortiz Fernández, head of the installation project, told Granma: "The decision was made to allocate 2671 systems for installation in vital centers throughout all municipalities."
Beneficiaries include maternity homes, nursing homes, senior centers, polyclinics (emergency rooms), funeral homes, bank branches (including exchange bureaus), municipal radio stations, radio transmitters, Etecsa communications facilities, and UNE commercial offices.
Ortiz Fernández stressed that the goal is not full self-sufficiency but energy survival during outages. "Installing a 2 kW system in a vital municipal center is the perfect tool to protect what is essential, what is truly needed to achieve the autonomy of that municipality," she said. The systems are isolated, not connected to the grid, enabling continued operations like vaccine administration, elderly care, and banking during power cuts.
To address fuel and transportation challenges, coordination occurred with provincial electric companies and local governments. "Prior coordination was carried out with all the carriers who could help us transport these resources, and therefore meticulous planning was done to achieve what we have achieved today: having the resources in all the provinces to be able to install these systems," she stated.
The remaining 2329 systems will go to isolated homes with generators limited by fuel shortages, and to "zero-volt" homes without prior electricity access. This allows connecting more appliances for longer in remote areas, transforming lives and preventing migration. "If you install a 2 kW system for these people there, allowing them to have a refrigerator, a fan, a television, their lives change completely, and we prevent them from migrating from their communities," Ortiz Fernández noted.
In addition, the UNE is advancing other renewable initiatives, including 126 charging stations for electricity-dependent children (114 installed) and in Holguín province, 502 2 kW systems funded by a Canadian donation, with 60% already in place. These efforts enhance energy resilience and savings amid severe outages.