Cuban western province moves towards energy independence

ARTEMISA, Cuba, Mar 31 (ACN) The use of photovoltaic solar parks (PSFV by its Spanish acronym) in Artemisa as part of the Cuban program of renewable energy sources (FRE) allows strengthening the National Electric System (SEN), saving fuels, protecting the environment and advancing to energy independence.

As part of this effort, the PSFV Borinquen 1, in Alquizar municipality, with a capacity of 2.2 MegaWatts (Mw), was inaugurated in late 2018, explained Dionisio Alfonso Castro Pompa, director of the Base Business Unit (UEB) Renewable Energy Sources of the Artemisa Electric Company, to the Cuban News Agency.

This project, he said, allows stabilizing the voltage in the locality - affected by the low generation of the territory due to the number of agricultural farms in the area -, injecting energy into the SEN, like the rest of the country's power plants, and relieves the workload of the thermoelectric plants, which are no longer forced to operate at one hundred percent of their capacity.

The 8,800 panels of the installation, Alfonso Castro added, transform the solar radiation received in four hectares into direct electricity and, through 28 concentrator boxes, they send it to two technological containers in which the inverters convert it into alternating energy.

After two years in operation, he continued, it is impossible to deny the advantages of Borinquen 1, because only in 2020, despite the decrease in solar radiation on rainy or very cloudy days, the PSFV exceeded its annual plan of 3,407 Mw/h, which is equivalent to saving about 700 tons (t) of oil and more than 300,000 pesos in freely convertible currency (MLC), and avoided the emission of more than 2,000 t of carbon dioxide (CO2) for the benefit of the ecosystem.

The implementation of these systems represents the Cuban government's interest in protecting the environment, reducing electricity costs and is one of the main effects of the Energy Revolution promoted by Commander in Chief Fidel Castro Ruz.