Cuba, a small Caribbean island only 90 miles off the coast of Florida, has miraculously survived decades of U.S. aggression. And not only has Cuba survived, but it has risen out of its "third world" status in its determination to develop in a sustainable way.
I went to Cuba with Global Exchange, a non-profit organization that organizes "reality tours" of Cuba. The tour coincided with an international solar energy conference organized by a non-governmental Cuban organization, CubaSolar. Having worked on numerous solar energy projects in Central America, I went to Cuba with the misconception that I could use my renewable energy technology transfer skills there. However, I quickly learned that the last thing this country of 11 million people needs is technical assistance. In the middle of an economic crisis and struggling against a U.S. trade embargo, Cubans have advanced far past anything I would have ever imagined.
Cuba's Energy History
Up until 1960 Cuba's electricity was based on petroleum, and was mostly for large cities and tourist places. The majority of rural areas had no electricity. The whole country was surviving on barely 800 MW. The revolution of 1959 led to a big push for rural electrification. By 1989, 96% of the country was electrified, with over 3000 MW. However, Cuba was importing most of its petroleum from the socialist bloc, at low prices. In 1989, with the falling of the socialist bloc, Cuba could not afford to buy petroleum on the international market. They had been using 4 million tons of petroleum per year for electricity for houses. This had to be cut down to 2 million. The need to reduce their energy usage by 50% led to an extreme revamping of their energy plan, and a huge push for renewable energy.
Energy, Sweet Energy
Sugar is the heart of Cuba's renewable energy program. Sugarcane, Cuba's main export crop, is supplying almost 30% of the energy used in Cuba. After the cane is harvested, the residue (bagasse) is used to power the whole plant. They then sell the excess electricity back to the grid. There are 156 sugar mills in Cuba. They each produce 20 - 80 kWh/ton of bagasse. They are also compressing the waste parts of the plant such as the leaves and the stalk to be used as a solid fuel.
Energy from Cuba's Rivers
The second most important renewable energy source in Cuba is micro-hydro power. Cuba is not blessed with many large rivers, but it does have a lot of small rivers. This turns out to be a great advantage. They have not had the chance to create the massive destruction of large dams as we have, but have installed over 220 micro-hydro systems, supplying 30,000 Cubans with electricity. Right now they are generating 55 MW from hydro sites, with an annual generation of 80 GWh. Some of the systems are used to provide electricity to remote regions without the grid, and other systems are used to sell electricity back into the grid. The systems range from 8 kW up to 500 kW.
One of the towns we visited in Guama, a province with 30 micro-hydro plants, has a 30 kW system. The system provides electricity for the 250 people living in 56 houses. Each house is limited to 100 watts, and the entire community is only using 10 kW. They eventually want to send their excess electricity to the next town over, which is 4 kilometers away, and is also not connected to the grid. Four people operate the system, each working six hours per day. They make sure the output of the hydro system meets the demand of the community. The people in the town only need to pay a small fee to cover the salaries of the four operators.
The "Sol" of Cuba
We also had the chance to visit a beautiful town in the mountains called Magdalena. Magdalena is off the grid as well, and is completely powered by photovoltaics. The community has a population of 574. Each house has its own 70 watt PV system, to run compact fluorescent DC lights, radio and television. The houses each have 18 lighting hours per day. There are 11-watt PV street lights lining the street. There is also a 3 kW PV powered water pumping system which pumps 30,000 gallons of water per day for the entire community. The community center has an inverter to run ac appliances, and the doctor's office has a larger 8 panel system with a PV powered vaccine refrigerator.
Throughout Cuba, there are 295 PV powered rural homes, three community systems averaging 2500 peak watts each, and over 50 PV powered doctor offices. They are manufacturing their own charge controllers, have developed a sine wave inverter and are making their own modules from imported cells. They hope to soon manufacture their own PV cells as well. The majority of the problems with PV systems have been related to the tropical conditions of the Cuban climate. Most of the installed equipment was not designed for tropical conditions. Therefore, the Center for Solar Energy Research (CIES) in Santiago de Cuba has a research lab to test the performance of solar equipment in a tropical climate. They hope to be the central research and information center for tropical PV research in the entire Latin American and Caribbean region.
A "Cool" Greenhouse
The intense Cuban heat also poses some problems for agriculture. While we have greenhouses so we can grow summer crops in the winter, the Cubans have devised a reverse greenhouse, so they can grow winter crops in the summer. The reverse greenhouse is a small room with a flat glass roof. There is a layer of water on the roof, which blocks the infra red radiation from entering. The water is colored, the exact color to block the IR, and they can vary the amount of radiation entering the greenhouse by varying the amount of water in the roof tank. They also pump this water through tubes in the greenhouse, and mist the plants with it, to help it cool off more. They have basically eliminated the need for any back-up cooling to grow plants in the heat of the summer.
Wind Power
Wind energy is also happening in Cuba. There are over 9000 wind mills pumping water in Cuba, and many small wind generators under 1 kW. The majority of wind mills and turbines are made in Cuba. They are currently studying the wind potential in Cuba with the possibility of installing large wind farms to provide electricity to the grid.
Solar Sisters
I cannot write about the energy program in Cuba without mentioning Cuban women. Cuban women are integrated into every aspect of Cuban society. Over 50% of the doctors in the country, and 55% of all scientific professionals are women. I realized how far we still need to go in the U.S. when we visited a 40 kW micro-hydro site in Jagueyon. I found myself being shocked that the entire operation was run by two women. Although I have been in the engineering field for years, and have tried to integrate more women into the science and engineering field, it is a much more common sight to see women technicians and engineers in Cuba than in our "developed" nation.
In fact, not long ago, 75% of the people passing the entrance exams to enter science and technology universities were women. The Cuban government had to implement an affirmative action program, by lowering the necessary test scores for men, to even out the gender gap. Now women make up 60% of the students in the science and technology universities.
Cuba's Future Generations
We also cannot forget the young people of Cuba. Renewable energy and the environment are big parts of the Cuban education system, from primary schools through the university level. All high schools teach renewable energy in their curriculum, and some of them have renewable energy equipment at the school as well.
We visited the Che Guevara Technical High School in Havana. There are 500 students (over 300 of them women) and the school uses a solar oven, solar water heaters, PV modules and wind turbines. Although the school is not specifically geared towards renewable energy, every class includes a renewable energy component. In biology class they learn how to build a biogas plant, and in physics they learn how a solar panel works. They also have an energy efficient wood burning stove which cooks the meals for the students during the week. This is the same type of stove that is implemented in over 250 schools throughout Cuba.
It amazed me how far Cuba has advanced in the face of severe shortages. The economic crisis and the U.S. trade embargo have made electricity blackouts and shortages of food, soap and toilet paper a fact of daily life. Yet the determination to develop in a sustainable way has led the Cubans on an impressive renewable energy path, in spite of the lack of materials, computers, and money.
Although I brought a lot to Cuba in the form of humanitarian aid such as medicine and renewable energy books, I feel I came away with much more. I learned many things from the Cuban people. I realized that ending the trade embargo is crucial not only to allow Cuba to receive much needed materials, but also to allow us to learn from their accomplishments. I also learned that sustainable development is not so much an economic issue as a political issue. If a country truly wants to develop in a sustainable way, it can improve people's quality of life no matter what the GNP. And Cuba's accomplishments in the field of renewable energy proves it.
Laurie Stone teaches and writes about renewable energy technologies at Solar Energy International, P.O. Box 715, Carbondale, CO 81623. (970) 963-8855, fax (970) 963-8866, e-mail: sei@solarenergy.org
For information on renewable energy tours of Cuba contact:
The Reality Tour Program at GLOBAL EXCHANGE
2017 Mission St.
303, San Francisco, CA 94110.
(415) 255-7296 or 800-497-1994
e-mail: globalexch@igc.org
Source: Solar Energy International
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