HAVANA, Apr 17 (IPS) – With a bolder coverage and versatile fee mechanisms, maybe Alexis Rodríguez would have opted for photo voltaic panels for his residence, as a substitute of the moveable generator that has made it potential for him to climate the frequent blackouts attributable to Cuba’s recurrent power crises.
“It is just a little noisy, the gasoline is pricey, however I can tolerate one and clear up the opposite. What’s insupportable is for my household and I to spend nights and early mornings with out electrical energy, with out relaxation, struggling the warmth and mosquitoes, and with the danger of the meals in our fridge spoiling,” the barber, who lives within the japanese metropolis of Holguín, instructed IPS.
Rodríguez shelled out 850 {dollars} just a few months in the past for a 2500 watt (W) gasoline-powered generator.
Marileydis Pérez, a homemaker in Batabanó south of Havana, obtained a 900 W generator from her son, who despatched it from his residence in the USA, “to run the followers, the tv and activate the lights on blackout nights.”
Pérez instructed IPS that though the federal government created a system of shifts for the sale of gasoline, “simply 5 liters” for many who have registered mills, “I’ve solely been in a position to purchase it that manner as soon as in two years.” Because of this, she resorts to the black marketplace for gasoline.
Extremely depending on gasoline imports, Cuba consumes greater than eight million tons yearly, of which nearly 40 p.c is roofed by heavy home crude oil with a excessive sulfur content material, used primarily in thermoelectric era.
Over the past 5 years, together with the deterioration of the home financial scenario, the autumn of the primary sources of international forex and the tightening of the U.S. embargo, the authorities have confronted rising difficulties in assembly gasoline demand.
An replace of retail costs within the home market led to a rise of greater than 400 p.c in gross sales charges since Mar. 1.
The worth of a liter of normal gasoline climbed from 25 to 132 Cuban pesos (equal to 1.10 {dollars} on the official price). The identical was true for normal diesel.
On the black market, a liter of normal gasoline prices 250 to 300 pesos, or 0.70 to 0.85 cents on the greenback, taking into consideration the trade price parallel to the federal government’s.
On this nation of 11 million inhabitants, the common month-to-month wage is equal to about 40 {dollars}, which quantities to round 14 {dollars} within the casual reference marketplace for a big variety of merchandise, items and providers to which households have entry with a purpose to fulfill their primary wants.
The issues dealing with the power provide have fuelled the importation of mills, in addition to their sale on the black market. Authorities-owned shops that solely take international forex additionally promote them at very excessive costs, far past the attain of most households.
An extension for the non-commercial import of as much as two mills that produce greater than 900 W has been in place since 2022.
Obstacles
Individuals who spoke to IPS expressed misgivings about the usage of mills as a result of they’re noisy.
They identified that they don’t seem to be at all times positioned outdoors the homes or in ventilated rooms in order that poisonous combustion gases can escape and overheating will be prevented.
When IPS requested about the opportunity of photo voltaic panels, Pérez mentioned that “along with being very troublesome to search out outdoors Havana, they normally come with out batteries, and if they’re introduced in, they price half one million pesos (about 4200 {dollars} on the official trade price).”
When the general public company Copextel, answerable for advertising and marketing and after-sales providers, started to promote them in late 2021, “they have been at 55,000 pesos” (2,300 {dollars} on the official trade price on the time), unaffordable for anybody who will depend on their wages or on a pension,” mentioned Rodríguez.
The worth coated the acquisition, transportation, set up and meeting of the panels and inverters by the corporate’s technicians.
“I spend lower than 200 pesos on electrical energy a month. With what a photo voltaic panel prices I pays for electrical energy for greater than 20 years,” added Rodríguez.
One other hurdle for the enlargement of solar energy within the residential sector lies within the electrical energy tariff subsidy, which is charged in a devalued forex.
In keeping with official figures, round six p.c of the greater than 4 million households in Cuba eat greater than 500 kilowatt hours (kWh) per 30 days. Above that threshold, the electrical energy tariff was elevated by 25 p.c since March to remove subsidies.
By putting in photo voltaic panels, this phase of the inhabitants might discover a approach to offset the quantity of the invoice by cogeneration for self-consumption or obtain a fee for injecting clear power into the nationwide grid.
“Those that have primarily bought the panels are individuals with excessive incomes, particularly homeowners of hostels and rental homes. It makes it potential for them to supply air-con in rooms for vacationers and different providers throughout the day,” Dunia Ulloa, business supervisor of Copextel’s department within the Havana municipality of Plaza de la Revolución, instructed IPS.
Initiatives and incentives nonetheless fall short
About 95 p.c of Cuba’s electrical energy era depends on fossil fuels, which embody the pure fuel produced with home oil, offshore oil rigs leased from Turkey, in addition to diesel and gasoline oil primarily based mills and engines.
The federal government goals for renewables to account for round 30 p.c of electrical energy era by 2030, up from the present 5 p.c.
With an put in capability of 260 megawatts (MW), the photo voltaic parks put in on this Caribbean nation represented two p.c of annual electrical energy era on the finish of 2023, in response to official information.
On Mar. 14, Minister of Vitality and Mines Vicente de la O Levy reported that two contracts had been signed for the set up of 92 photo voltaic parks in all provinces, with a possible of 2000 MW.
By Could 2025, the primary of the 1,000 MW contracts should be fulfilled, and the second by 2028. Each additionally has an extra 100 MW of storage capability, he mentioned.
Since 2014 Cuba has had a Coverage for the Growth of Renewable Vitality Sources and their Environment friendly Use, and in 2019, Decree Regulation 345 established rules to extend the share of renewables within the power combine and steadily lower consumption of fossil fuels.
In 2023 the Ministry of Finance and Costs issued Decision 238 which doubled to 6 pesos (0.05 cents of a greenback on the official trade price) the worth per kWh from renewable sources delivered to the nationwide grid by impartial producers in residential areas.
As well as, the rules waive for as much as eight years the tax on income for financial actors that perform electrical energy era tasks with renewable power sources, and the customs tax on the importation of apparatus to that finish.
The outcomes aren’t very encouraging, pending extra enticing proposals for people to spend money on inexperienced energies, with a purpose to promote surplus electrical energy to the Cuban State.
The rules don’t exempt the import of those applied sciences for commercialization from customs duties: the associated fee is similar for supplies or tools, whether or not they’re helpful or detrimental to power consumption.
In contrast to different international locations the place individuals make a residing from promoting clear power, in Cuba those that set up photo voltaic panels basically search power self-sufficiency, that’s, to have electrical energy even throughout blackouts.
“Photo voltaic panels are one of the best, there isn’t any gasoline price or noise. However they should be offered with actual incentives to ensure that extra individuals to spend money on them,” entrepreneur Félix Morffi, 86, a former mid-level technician in equipment and gear restore and a tenacious advocate of fresh power alternatives, instructed IPS.
A gaggle of 36 photo voltaic panels on the roof of his home present 10 kWh to help the work of his automotive restore store, an autonomous enterprise constructed by Morffi subsequent to his home within the municipality of Regla, within the Cuban capital.
After masking his family wants, the excess electrical energy he produces goes to the nationwide grid.
“An important ingredient is to supply credit score. Not everybody has the cash to purchase the tools. The opposite is to not get slowed down in purple tape, as a result of it scares individuals off. Banks should have individuals who deal solely with this difficulty, who’re skilled, and who wish to get issues transferring. If that occurs, you will note how within the neighborhoods increasingly more individuals begin to put up panels,” mentioned Morffi.
In his view, “those that produce probably the most needs to be acknowledged, maybe by giving them family home equipment, rising the charges paid to them for surplus power or masking a part of the funding. Ultimately, it’s a achieve for the nation and reduces gasoline bills.”
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