Cuba Gets Greener with Experimental Wind Farm

Cuba has invested $3.4 million in an experimental wind farm tapping into an alternative energy that will realize the country's renewable energy needs.

The Communist Party youth newspaper Juventud Rebelde reported that the government established a wind park with six 180-foot tall turbines on the Isla de la Juventud, an island south of Havana.

The energy generated by the windmills is expected to produce 1,800 megawatts of electricity per year which will reduce the government's spending on foreign oil by $136,000.

Cuba's renewable energy development is often held up as an example for developing countries. The economic sanctions imposed by the United States and the sudden loss of its primary source of fossils fuels when the Soviet Union collapsed forced the country to become self-sufficient in energy production.

In the early 1990s, Cuban imports were cut by 50% forcing the country into a period of severe energy shortage. The government reduced energy consumptions, cut industrial production and rationed energy to productive and social activities.

Attention was then given to developing energy efficiency and researching locally-available alternatives to imported energy sources.

During the past decade, the country's only source of oil is Venezuela which exports 100,000 barrels per day to the island. In return, Cuba sends their best natural resource to Venezuela - volunteer doctors.

But the oil Cuba gets from Venezuela does not cover all energy needs and during high demand times, power blackouts are common.

Although there are already about 8,000 windmills throughout Cuba these have been used for water pumping, mainly on cattle farms. The wind farm on Isla de la Juventud is the first specifically aimed at generating power.

The park was based on French wind turbine technology and can be disassembled in anticipation of severe weather.

The wind farm is just one of several renewable energy projects that the government is developing, including another wind park planned for the end of this year.

The potential renewable sources for energy production in Cuba are wind, biomass, hydro and solar and Cuba is rich in all of them.

Although the island is lacking in fossil fuels it has an abundance of Atlantic winds, sunshine, water and the sugar bases needed for biomass fuel.

Recently, the first industrial biogas plant went into operation on the island tapping Cuba's largest renewable resource - sugar cane. The project was funded in part by the Evangelical churches of Germany's Bread for the World through the Cuban Ecumenical Council. Similar plants are being built throughout Cuba to meet local energy needs.

According to the Dutch environmental organization WISE Amsterdam, Cuba has sent international calls for information about renewable energy technologies including solar desalinization of sea water, cultivation of combustible oil and energy exploitation of oceanic thermal gradients.

As Cuba becomes a world leader in renewable energy, ecologists and developing countries are learning from the country's example.

Sources

"Cuba opens experimental wind farm" AP Yahoo, February 25, 2007 http://news.yahoo.com/s/ap/20070226/ap_on_re_la_am_ca/cuba_wind_power;_ylt=AtBV6vqkonskFWR_lkRaz9ZvaA8F

WISE - Amsterdam http://www10.antenna.nl/wise/index.html?http://www10.antenna.nl/wise/383/cuba.html