ENERGY REVOLUTION

Installed capacity to generate more than 1,300 MW with diesel generating units

BY LILLIAM RIERA - Granma International

At least two years on from initiating its Energy Revolution, Cuba has installed diesel generating units in 110 of the country’s 169 municipalities with a joint generating capacity of 1,307 MW of electricity, and which come into operation according to need at peak demand times. This information was given by Yadira García Vera, minister of basic industry (MINBAS).
In addition, the nation is undertaking a program, due to be completed in 2008, to install other generators using fuel oil and operating a base regime – 24 hours – and which can generate 1,770 MW, García Vera explained at the 5th International Conference on Renewable Energy, Energy Savings and Energy Education, which took place in Havana and was attended by 300 delegates, 100 of them foreigners from 28 countries.
According to the information given, more than 3,000 small generating units have been installed in centers vital to the economy, health and services.
With the installation of these generating plants the country is moving toward a scheme of distributed electricity generation which gives – among other advantages – a reduction in transmission losses by being generated in proximity to consumers, its low energy consumption, facility of installation and operation. Moreover, if it is taken out of operation for any reason, that will not impact on the national electrical energy system.
At the same time, distributed generation guarantees energy security in the country and the vitality of the economy and society even in situations of natural disaster or other extreme cases.
REHABILITATION OF ELECTRICTY NETWORKS AT 70%
Another important program underway is the rehabilitation of all the country’s electricity networks, which have significantly deteriorated, planned over three years and currently at 70% of execution, García Vera stated.
That program will allow for the elimination of some 14,000 low-voltage areas, a reduction of interruption per user from 170 to 10 hours per year and of distribution losses by 9%.
The program covers tasks of such magnitude as the changeover  to cutting-edge technologies of more than one million meters and 3, 050, 884 breakers in homes with electricity that require them; the replacement of 1, 516, 039 supply feed lines; 116, 134 posts; and 21,293 kilometers of transmission and distribution lines by higher-caliber conductors, the minister announced.
To guarantee the above, national production of distribution transformers, concrete posts and copper electricity cables is being reanimated, extended or modernized, as well as the introduction of new lines such as aluminum electric cables.
The MINBAS head noted that the replacement of more than 10 million incandescent light bulbs and electro-domestic equipment by other more efficient ones, rigorously selected following a standard model, originally undertaken on a small scale and later generalized throughout the country in both the residential and business sectors, are other programs of notable impact, on account of their economic benefits and the profound social justice that accompanies them.
She noted that, to date, around one million electrical fans, 100,000 televisions, 110,000 air conditioners and 1, 431, 979 refrigerators, among other goods, have been changed. On top of that, more than 200,000 efficient water pumps have been installed in homes of one or two stories; 23,852 in 3-5-story buildings, and 2, 671 are to be replaced in aqueducts.
MORE THAN 2.5 MILLION FAMILIES NOW COOKING WITH ELECTRICITY
One of the measures of greatest social impact has doubtless been the handing over of more than 10 million electrical cooking appliance units, which has made it possible, in this first stage, for 80% of Cuban families (2,600,000) to leave behind the use of traditional fuels like kerosene, expensive and harmful to health, for preparing their meals.
The state has offered all sectors of the population credit facilities for acquiring these units via extended repayment terms in line with family income.
Work has also gone into information circulation and education to create a climate of saving national energy.
She also explained that the island is carrying out a geological exploration program in search of new deposits of oil and gas, both on land and in the exclusive zone that it possesses in the Gulf of Mexico, in which prestigious international companies are participating.
In parallel, intensive work is ongoing into developing renewable energy, a field in which, according to the minister, discreet results can be appreciated.
4,000 ISOLATED POINTS IN MOUNTAINOUS AREAS ELECTRIFIED WITH SOLAR PANELS
It was announced that 4,000 isolated mountain areas of difficult access have been electrified with solar panels, which propitiate the installation of medical equipment to improve health services, as well as audiovisual equipment for educational and cultural needs in the community.
In relation to the use of eolian energy, García Vera recalled the recent inauguration of an eolian park in the special municipality of the Isle of Youth, in addition to the one in Turiganó and announced that work is underway on others.
Although the island does not have significant hydraulic resources, there is a construction program of small hydroelectric plants that have provided electricity to 35,000 families in isolated mountain areas, thus guaranteeing them access to similar services to those obtained from electrification via solar panels.
Equally, research is going into the use of biomass, energy from tides, and geothermics.
In reference to ethanol production, the minister noted that authorities in the sector understand it and support it from the position defended by President Fidel Castro: as long as it does not signify depriving the stomachs of the poor of America or the world in favor of the metallic stomachs of the cars of the wealthy of the First World, and that its cultivation is on land not committed to growing food or others important economic sectors for the peoples and, thus, generates employment and benefits to society.