Foreign investment in renewable energy in Cuba

HAVANA, Cuba, Aug 6 (ACN) If it is vital for Cuba to increase the impact of Renewable Energy Sources (RES) in electricity generation due to its high dependence on fossil fuels, the contribution of the 2014 Foreign Investment Law is also decisive because of the facilities it offers.

The legislation includes guarantees and legal certainty for investors that favor the attraction and exploitation of foreign capital, which is important in the face of the insane financial harassment as part of the blockade by the U.S. government, a generalized war and its media coverage.

One objective of such Cuban legislation is aimed at the diversification and expansion of export markets, access to advanced technologies and import substitution, with priority given to foodstuffs.

For these reasons, executives of the Ministry of Energy and Mines rely on its use to obtain external financing, create new sources of employment, capture managerial methods and link it to the development of productive chains.

An essential argument they put forward is its contribution to changing the country's energy matrix, through the use of RES, based on the fact that it receives an average annual solar radiation of more than 1,800 Kw/h per square meter.

The latter can turn it into an energy power based on its utilization, the development of knowledge and technology, although the experiences of the Energy Revolution are not ruled out after the approval of a 2014 policy for its development.

It would be necessary to add to their background the Decree-Law 345 of 2019 on renewable sources and rational use of energy and their corresponding incentives, tariff and tax benefits as a way to stimulate their introduction.

Tatiana Amaran Bogachova, Deputy Minister of Energy and Mines, illustrated the situation of the 2020 Energy Efficiency Program, when its main indicators were below forecast due to the lack of timely financing for the acquisition of raw materials.

In both the residential and state sectors, she mentioned the non-compliance in the installation of LED lamps, heaters and the production of induction stoves.

Consequently, they sought alternatives for the acquisition of renewable energy source systems by natural and legal persons with a view to promoting the change of the energy matrix in the nation.

They contemplate from imports by natural persons - accompanied or unaccompanied cargo, and by shipment - through authorized Cuban importers to sales in virtual and physical stores in foreign currency and in Cuban pesos, the national currency.

In addition, the novelty of buying from the National Power Grid an installed kilowatt of photovoltaic generation for a value of 1,500 dollars, equivalent to a reduction in its monthly rate of 125 kilowatt hours with a 20-year benefit.

Nicolás Liván Arronte Cruz, Minister of Energy and Mines, argued about the strategy that the FRE is proportional to the decrease in the use of fossil fuels, which will make sustainable development possible.
But it will also make it possible to use for other purposes those resources that are currently used for the purchase of fuel and the generation of electricity.