New energy storage in Cuba

Coverage includes generation and storage systems, renewable energy installations (hydropower, solar PV, wind, biomass, ocean, and solar thermal), electrical grid history and characteristics, and an analysis of Cuba's electrical energy resiliency.

Cuba's energy sector is at a crossroads. The country's mostly fossil fuel-fired energy system faces a number of longstanding and serious challenges, including breakdowns at aging power plants, decreasing fuel imports and fuel shortages, and the growing threat of climate change-related disruptions.

Over the past 10 years, Cuba has begun to embark on an energy transition. Recent shifts in law and policy create new and promising opportunities and indicate a desire on the part of Cuba's policymakers to transition to a cleaner, more climate resilient energy system.

The project was scheduled to conclude on June 30, 2023, with a budget of $3.4 million. The Cuban state forecasts generating 30,000 GWh by 2030, an almost unattainable goal. Not only are there no plans to build new thermoelectric plants, but the National Electric Union (UNE) currently supplies only 56.6% of the energy it provided five years ago.

In 2019, Cuba signed an agreement with the United Nations for Project 180087, committing to generate 29% of its energy from renewable sources by 2025. The project was scheduled to conclude on June 30, 2023, with a budget of $3.4 million. The Cuban state forecasts generating 30,000 GWh by 2030, an almost unattainable goal.

Cuba's energy and agriculture sectors combined account for more than 90 percent of its greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions. “Biogas is hugely important for Cuba's energy security,” says Luis Cepero Casas, a researcher at the Indio Hatuey Experimental Station of Pastures and Forages, part of the University of Matanzas.