Cubans Adopt Solar Energy-Fueled Drinking Water Pumps

Pinar del Rio, Cuba, May 8 (ACN) As part of national efforts to develop renewable energy sources, authorities in this western region are setting up drinking water pumps fueled with solar energy in several districts of the territory.

The new technology made in Germany includes the pumps, a solar panel, a control board and a voltage variation controller, said Julio Cesar Lezcano, Engineering director with the Aqueduct and Sewage company.

The use of the solar-energy equipment will save some 53 megawatts originally consumed every month in the province just to pump water and will benefit 43 percent of all pumping stations in the territory. The initiative will also benefit some 50 thousand citizens particularly in rural areas, said the official.

Cuba is looking forwards to increasing the use of renewable energy sources to change the local energy matrix, currently based on fossil fuels at some 95 percent; only about 5 percent of the energy consumed is contributed by clean energy sources.