Speaking before the National Assembly of Popular Power, Cuba's Minister of Energy and Mines, Vicente de la O Levy, presented the Government's program to overhaul the national electricity system on Thursday, while the country suffered the worst electricity deficit of 2024, amounting to 1,771 MW.
Reporting on his speech, the state portal Cubadebate explained that the plan "is divided into six working groups analyzing the search for financial, banking and economic solutions, the fuel supply, foreign relations in the sector, renewable energy sources, efficiency and attention to workers."
The Government of Cuba's plan aims to recover 850 MW of availability in distributed generation and generation at thermoelectric plants consuming national fuel, "reaching an average availability of 1,400 MW."
According to De la O Levy, work has already begun on the maintenance supplies for Units 3 and 4 at the Carlos Manuel de Céspedes thermoelectric plant.
The government plan includes adding 2,000 MW to national generation between 2025 and 2026. As of June next year "we estimate being able to prevent daytime blackouts, as a greater capacity in megawatts will be available from solar photovoltaic energy."
However, the system's current situation, as described by the Cuban minister, sows doubt about whether daytime outages can be prevented.
"The system’s availability reached its lowest levels since 2019. In recent years we have lost, totally or for a long time, five generation units, which is equivalent to a third of the country's demand. Distributed generation groups have also seen a marked downward trend: despite the incorporation of 100 MW in 2023, availability does not exceed 39%," the official confessed.
De la O Levy said that in 2024 electricity generation featured "lower performance" than 2023, with the year winding to an end being "the most challenging" the sector has seen.
Since 2020 distributed generation has also lost the repair of diesel engines, with the current availability standing at 37%. In addition, the power generation vessels have been withdrawn from Cuba "due to the inability to pay for them" and currently, there are only two left, providing 257 MW of power.
This Thursday, when the largest electricity deficit of the year caused blackouts across more than half of the island, both the vessel of the Turkish company Karadeniz Holding, connected to the Melones electrical substation, and that in Regla, both in the Bay of Havana, lacked fuel to operate. 69 distributed generation plants did not have fuel either, and 8 thermal generation units were inoperative. No. 2 at the Felton thermoelectric plant was out of commission, as was Number at Renté, while No. 8 at Mariel, No. 2 at Santa Cruz del Norte, No. 3 and No. 4 in Cienfuegos, No. 5 in Nuevitas and No. 5 in CTE Renté were undergoing maintenance.
The minister also attributed the prolonged daily blackouts that Cubans have suffered in 2024 to the increase in maximum demand, by more than 100 MW, compared to 2023, due, owing, among other factors, to the lack of gas tanks for cooking.
In addition to the blackouts and the lack of food, Cubans have had to deal with a severe shortage of liquefied gas, which the Government has not been able to solve in a lasting way.
In his presentation before the body the Minister of Energy and Mines also addressed the development of renewable energy sources, with which the Government is striving to spread hope among Cubans.
"In line with our energy transition strategy, we intend to build 92 photovoltaic parks, which will generate some 2,000 MW. We expect 55 of them to be available in 2025," said De la O Levy.
At one point in his speech the minister said that "a project to install 120 MW in photovoltaic solar parks is underway, thanks to a donation from China," according to Cubadebate.
"The acquisition of 30,000 domestic photovoltaic systems is also underway, and the recovery of the Matanzas supertanker base has begun. In addition, two photovoltaic solar parks will be incorporated in February, and six in March 2025," the state media outlet added, citing the information offered by the minister.
Regarding the photovoltaic solar parks project, he said that as of March 2025 an average of five parks per month will be commissioned.
"This project has not been devoid of difficulties. 2,714 containers are being shipped to Cuba. With all the agencies working together, we have made progress with our resources," he claimed.
The optimism regarding the use of renewable energy sources to solve the crisis in Cuba that the government is trying to instil in a population weary of failures and justifications clashes with the reality of an economy in tatters.
"But to achieve this percentage of electricity generation, starting from the current 5% of renewable energy currently installed, the Government would have to dedicate, over the next five years, around 1.2 billion dollars annually to this issue alone, between solar and wind farms, battery fields, and a renewal of what is a Fifth World electricity grid," said economist Rafael Cruz in an analysis published in DIARIO DE CUBA in early October.