Cubans skeptical about the effectiveness of photovoltaic parks to end the blackouts

Cubans on the island were skeptical in front of the promised government solution to the energy crisis through the installation of photovoltaic parks.

The ruler Miguel Díaz-Canel promised a decrease in electrical interruptions in line with the connection of photovoltaic parks that will generate more than 500 MW of solar energy in the first half of this year.

On Friday, the first of the 92 photovoltaic parks that plans to build Cuba this year was synchronized. Located in the Havana municipality of the Cotorro, at his ignition he attended Díaz-Canel and a cohort of national leaders.

Cubans interviewed by Martí News said that, in the face of the country’s leadership that photovoltaic parks are the solution to reduce the blackouts, the reality is that the objective conditions are not created, and as long The population.

“I do not think the problem solves and, in addition, it will generate other problems that they (the regime) will not be able to face. All those projects they do are very optimistic, but there are always difficulties with the spare parts. They do things for goals and everything looks good, supposedly, but nothing is useful, ”said Héctor Julio Cedeño Negrín, from the Cuban capital.

“Here what is needed to change is the system, that there are private companies. The private company, which has a better sense of things, profit and investment, ”he said.

To generate a single Mega Watt, between 3,000 and 4,000 solar panels of optimal quality, ”a specialist from the Cuban energy sector was explained to the independent environment of the Cuban energy sector under anonymity.

“It would be necessary to cover 20,000 square meters of surface to reach that figure and have battery banks so that the stored energy is usable when the sunny hours pass, which coincide with those of greater consumption. In the current economic conditions of the country, a project of that caliber is not viable, ”said the expert.

The regime insists that solar panels are a scientific advance, but the results, so far, have been meager, since the solutions are conditioned by the high costs and the lack of management of the authorities.

“I should relieve, but the reality is that there has not been any relief yet. There is pessimism that can be solved, at least in the short term, problems with electric current, ”said economist Orlando Freyre Santana, also from Havana.

The island lives difficult times, with almost daily blackouts in most neighborhoods of the capital, and the rest of the country.

“Photovoltaic parks are not the solution of the problem of the national energy system. I am waiting at any time a total collapse because capital investments are not made in thermoelectricas, they are not given the maintenance required for decades, new systems, mechanisms, machinery are not implemented, ”said Yoanny Limonta, resident in the city of Cienfuegos .

The fragility of the Cuban electrical system left the country to the edge of collapse in recent months, with blackouts up to 20 hours in a row.

The thermoelectric calamitous, open in the 1980s and 1990s, suffer constant breaks at the same time as the fuel is scarce by what the Government has put their hopes in the commissioning of solar parks.

“In the province of Cienfuegos there are two, one of them located in the Juraguá area and the other in Yaguarama. Yaguarama’s was supposed to be synchronized with the national energy system, but presented problems. We had to continue repairing it because resources were missing, «said Limonta.

«In the case of Juraguá, which is still in the preparation phase, sometimes, it stops construction due to lack of resources.»

Recently, in the official program we make Cuba, the authorities announced that they could condemn by “sabotage” people involved in theft of certain screws of the installation of the photovoltaic park that is built in the municipality of Jovellanos, province of Matanzas.

Limonta recalled that the police have had to set up strong surveillance in component stores, due to the frequency of theft.

“Was someone there to take it when that is more than controlled? Rather, I think that the workers or builders that have to do with those implements of the photovoltaic park, sold them, and not to enrich themselves, but to be able to buy food, ”he said.

In this regard, Freyre Santana considered that «many times there are not the real conditions to fruit the plans.»

“There is a lot Many times what it does is to disrupt the results that the dome projects, ”he said.

In social networks, hundreds of Internet users made fun of the photovoltaic park of the Cotorro, such as Jorge Félix Rodríguez who, for the photos shown, considered that “it seems like a settlement of huts in Burundi… be serious! … a poem communism!» .

Carlos to Ferrales Hernández said: «The Cubans know the end of that story, it is repeated from time to time in different sectors with the common denominator that it never reaches success, it stays in nothing.»

Meanwhile, others like Harlem del Toro blamed the American embargo on all evils: «The blockade of the United States to Cuba has forced her to look for solutions … We are Cuba.»