In
Cuba, it is no longer uncommon to pass a school or a doctor’s office in a remote village that
features one or two flat, square contraptions on the roof, glittering and drinking in the bright
sun. The struggle to electrify rural communities in the face of a weak economy and the burgeoning
price of petroleum has inspired
Cuba
to develop an unusual resolution of implementing alternative energy sources. Solar energy channeled
through solar panels has evolved as an exceptionally creative application of appropriate technology
in this country.
The
Periodo Especial Forces Cuba to Look Inwards
From
1990 – 1996,
Cuba
underwent what is now known as the periodo especial or Special Period. GDP plummeted and imports of
all kinds tapered off following the end of the
Soviet Union
and its financial and trade support of
Cuba
. Beginning in the Special Period,
Cuba
’s ability to import oil from other countries was hindered by soaring world prices, the
country’s own inability to produce goods to be traded, and ironclad restrictions on engaging other
countries in trade.
Without
a steady stream of affordable foreign oil, not to mention the prohibitive costs of developing its
own substandard oil resources,
Cuba
’s only option was to look inwards at other opportunities for energy self-sufficiency. After the
creation of the National Energy Sources Development Program in 1993, government officials and
members of
Cuba
’s scientific community began to mobilize to expand domestic energy sources and commit to
electrify schools, hospitals, doctors’ offices and community centers, especially in the poorest,
most isolated communities.
While
the government was deciphering its energy priorities, a group of environmental scientists who had
begun to pay heed to warnings and who were beginning to gather information on the specific risks
that climate change poses to Cuba, decided to collaborate around energy use. CubaSolar, founded in
1994, is a non-governmental organization formed and run by a team of scientists, engineers, and
planners who have been fundamental in conceiving, developing and implementing alternative sources of
energy in Cuba. CubaSolar collaborates with many other agencies and non-governmental
organizations to disseminate information and provide training on alternative energy technologies,
principally solar.
Solar
Energy Out of Necessity
|
|
|
Providing
Cuba’s mountainous regions with electrical power lines is too costly |
The
decision to employ photovoltaic (PV) panels as the means for electrifying rural areas did not evolve
principally out of an environmental consciousness. Because the cost of implanting the wire, pylons
and transformers of a main distribution system to remote locations is so high, energy technicians
realized that installing individual PV panels was far cheaper. Each PV system used in a Cuban rural
school costs approximately $2,475. In comparison, the cost of lengthening electrical power
lines in the mountain areas ranges from $7,000 to $12,500 per kilometer.
Aside
from cost, advances in local manufacturing capabilities have also made PV panels an appropriate
energy option. In 2001, the Pinar del Río Electronic Components Complex began to
produce solar cells for photovoltaic panels, adapting a technology that had been sponsored by
Spain
in the 1980s until the
U.S.
embargo drove the company into bankruptcy, according to the head of the solar cell laboratory at
Electronic Materials and Reagents Institute (IMRE). Eventually, after years of research
through the 1990s, Pinar del Río was finally able to begin manufacturing high quality,
silicone cells comprising roughly 70% of the panels. The remaining 30% of panel material is
imported from
Europe
.
Cuba
now saves 10% of what it would spend on imported panels by buying the components it does not
manufacture and assembling the panels at home.
Today,
over 2,364 schools, 350 doctors’ offices, and hundreds of hospitals draw their power from
silicone-based solar panels. According to Bruno Henríquez of Cubaenergia, “There is
currently a plan to electrify 100,000 more rural households at a rate of 20,000 per year.”
Amazing
Progress
Laurie
Stone of Solar Energy International (SEI), a non-profit based organization in
Carbondale
,
Colorado
, was a member of the first American research mission in 1996 to
Cuba
to learn about renewable energy development. She has been back nearly every year since
then, and led a trip of Americans in May 2003 to visit renewable energy projects. Stone says, “The
public outreach campaigns have been incredibly successful. Today, you can ask any Cuban on the
street and they will know about the solar panels on the schools around the country.”
CubaSolar
and numerous other government and non-government agencies will be working to increase these numbers
and continue to research and implement other types of alternative energy sources like biomass, wind,
and micro-hydro.
The
Center for Appropriate Technology (CITA) was originally founded in 1995 to conduct research on
improving inexpensive water and sanitation technologies to meet the needs of poorer Cubans in rural
areas. CITA is currently working to develop prototypes for several technologies including a variety
of water pumps, windmills, and water filters. One of the pumps CITA is working on is
solar-powered and is designed to be energy efficient.
These
kinds of technologies, in addition to further proliferation of PV panels, will maintain
Cuba
’s impressive trajectory of sustainable development. While the country has not yet been
able to achieve large-scale energy production from renewable energy, solar panels have been highly
beneficial for rural Cubans. As the country’s economy picks up and more opportunities for
trade and production arise, government officials and citizens alike will need to reconcile the
tradeoffs of adopting larger scale and potentially more environmentally destructive technologies.
Sources:
Brown,
Simon. “El Centro Integrado de Technologia
Appropiada (CITA).”
“One
Step Closer to the Sun.” Granma International,
September 5, 2001.
Stone,
Laurie. “The Sol Of
Cuba
.” Home Power, 1996, Vol. 55.
Technologias
Apropiadas Para El Abasto de Aqua y El Saneamiento.
*
Eliza Barclay is a freelance writer based in
Washington, DC, just back from
Cuba
. She writes principally about sustainable development and can be reached at: elizabarclay@hotmail.com.
