HAVANA (Reuters) – Cuba this week asked state and private businesses to generate more of their own electricity from renewable resources and to limit their use of air conditioning, among other conservation measures, as the communist-run government navigates its worst energy crisis in decades. Contact online >>
HAVANA (Reuters) – Cuba this week asked state and private businesses to generate more of their own electricity from renewable resources and to limit their use of air conditioning, among other conservation measures, as the communist-run government navigates its worst energy crisis in decades.
The new regulations, summarized in a 16-page decree published on Tuesday, give top energy consumers in both the public and private sector three years to install renewable energy sources capable of producing at least 50% of the electricity they consume during daylight hours.
If an office building or factory can’t accommodate solar panels, businesses will instead be required to contract with the government for a portion of its installed renewable energy capacity.
The decree also establishes an array of new conservation measures, including a rule prohibiting state and private businesses on the Caribbean island from using “climate control units in non-technological offices, at temperatures below 24C (75.2F).”
The increasingly restrictive measures come as Cuba’s electrical grid teeters on the edge of collapse.
Multiple, island-wide blackouts in October and November left millions of people in the dark for days. Rolling blackouts continue nationwide as Cuba struggles to source the fuel and spare parts it needs to generate enough electricity to meet demand.
The government blames U.S. sanctions and a festering economic crisis for the increasingly tense situation.
The decree also establishes protocols for a contingency plan in emergency situations in which it is “necessary to affect electrical service in a planned and sustained manner for more than 72 hours.”
In such cases, businesses would be required to disconnect refrigerators, industrial ovens and irrigation pumps during peak demand hours.
The decree dedicates several pages to describing enforcement of the new rules, including shutting off electricity to the businesses that fail to meet the new standards, as well as fines of up to 15,000 pesos ($45.00) or more, depending on the infraction.
(Reporting by Nelson Acosta; editing by Dave Sherwood and Bill Berkrot)
On September 1-2, the Aspen Institute''s Energy and Environment Program took part in the Cuba Energy & Infrastructure Summit in Havana, Cuba, by organizing a panel about the policy, finance, and market opportunities and challenges developing a cleaner energy economy in Cuba. The Aspen Institute arranged for David Sandalow, the Inaugural Fellow at Columbia University''s Center on Global Energy Policy, and Roger Ballentine, Founder and President of Green Strategies in Washington, D.C., to travel to Havana and participate as speakers during the Summit.
Cuba is looking to make great strides in the clean energy space. Currently, Cuba generates more than 80% of its electricity from burning oil, one of the most carbon intensive fuels (other than coal). The majority of the rest of its electricity is from natural gas or biofuels (mostly sugar cane and Marabu, an invasive species of hardwood tree). However, in the last few years Cuba has installed 11mw of wind power and 24mw of solar power. This has led to an increased desire for additional renewable generation sources. Therefore, in their intended nationally determined contribution to the 2015 Paris Climate Agreement, Cuba agreed to install more than 2,000mw of renewable generation sources, with 24% of their electricity sector being renewable by 2030.
As Cuba looks to modernize its power sector and reach its Paris Climate goals, the Aspen Institute is interested in continuing discussions with the Cuban government and industry leaders about clean energy policy, markets, and infrastructure in Cuba. The Aspen Institute''s Energy and Environment Program has worked with several other countries, including India and China, to engage on bilateral and multilateral agendas on energy, environment and climate.
—Greg Gershuny is the Acting Deputy Director and James E. Rogers Energy Policy Fellow for the Aspen Institute''s Energy and Environment Program.
David Sandalow directs the US-China Energy & Climate program and works on a wide range of issues including the future of the electric grid, renewables finance and CO2 utilization and, prior to joining Columbia, served in senior positions at the U.S. Department of Energy, including Under Secretary of Energy (Acting) and Assistant Secretary for Policy & International Affairs.
Roger Ballentine advises and represents businesses, associations, government agencies and non-profit entities on domestic and international public policy issues and business strategies, focusing on energy, environmental and conservation matters. Previously, he was a senior member of the White House staff, serving President Bill Clinton as Chairman of the White House Climate Change Task Force and as Deputy Assistant to the President for Environmental Initiatives.
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They don’t sell you enough fuel at the gas stations and the line barely creeps forward because there are also many irregularities and corruption. It''s exhausting, said engineer Rolando Estupiñon, who was driving an old Soviet Union-made Lada. When he spoke to IPS in Havana, he was still a long way from the pumps at the station and had given up hope of working that day.
Lisbet Brito, an accountant living in the Cuban capital, lamented in a conversation with IPS that the public buses take a long time. Private cars (that act as taxis) are making shorter trips and charging more. Nobody can afford this. It''s very difficult to get to work or school, or to a medical or any other kind of appointment.
Brito said another fear “is that food prices will rise further or supplies will decrease, if the shortage of oil makes it difficult to supply the markets.”
External and internal factors, including the fuel shortage, contribute to low levels of agricultural production, which is insufficient to meet the demand of the 11.1 million inhabitants of this Caribbean island nation.
The outlook is made even more complex by the macroeconomic imbalances, marked by partial dollarization, high inflation and depreciation of wages, salaries and pensions which have strangled household budgets.
Asiel Ramos, who uses his vehicle as a private taxi in this city of 2.2 million people, justified the increase in his rates “because the cost of a liter of diesel skyrocketed” on the illicit market, where it ranges from a little more than a dollar to three dollars, in sharp contrast to the average monthly salary of around 35 dollars.
I pay taxes and I have to keep the car running so my children and wife can eat. I can’t spend days stocking up on fuel, and when it’s over, go back again. If I buy on the left (a euphemism for buying on the black market) I have to raise my prices, Ramos told IPS.
The fuel shortage drove the authorities to announce on the night of Apr. 25 the cancellation of the traditional parades for May 1, International Workers’ Day, and other activities such as political rallies or workplace, community or municipal events, as a rationing and austerity measure, and to declare that only essential transportation would be available.
In the capital, instead of the workers march through the Jose Marti Plaza of the Revolution, a rally was called for May 1 along the Havana Malecon or seaside boulevard, which expects some 120,000 people coming on foot from five of the 15 Havana municipalities.
On April 17, the Minister of Energy and Mines Vicente de la O Levy said on television that the fundamental cause of the shortage of diesel and gasoline is related to breaches of contracts by suppliers.
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