Cuban westernmost province builds its third solar park

CONSOLACION DEL SUR, Pinar del Río Cuba, January 12 (ACN) In the community of Puerta de Golpe, in the municipality of Consolación del Sur, workers from the Construction and Assembly Company and the Pinar del Río Electric Company are building the province's third 21.8-megawatt (MW) photovoltaic solar park.

More than 200 workers are currently assembling tables and panels in sector B—the most advanced—while in sector A they are carrying out earthmoving, explained engineer Raúl Jesús Soroa Morejón, head of the park's construction, to the Cuban News Agency.

The site will have 42,588 solar panels, similar to others of its kind in the country, covers 32 hectares, and is located on a site formerly used for livestock, which required filling in three artificial lagoons, he noted.

The project is approximately 30 percent complete overall, and after working on previous parks, we have more experience to move quickly in the placement of equipment, trenching, or other activities, depending on resource availability, explained Soroa Morejón.

This was a plot of land covered mostly with marabou and other shrubs, and in May we began the earthmoving, clearing, and leveling of the land, assured Ernesto Manuel González, head of the energy component for the Construction and Assembly Company.

Four brigades from that entity have been carrying out the placement of the structures since December and, in parallel, the earthmoving and compaction of the areas still to be prepared in Sector A.

There are still parts that we have to cover and level; it is very hard ground, and the tables have to be at the highest possible level, he noted.

These parks must be located eight kilometers from the nearest electrical substation, in this case, Pinar Oeste.

As part of the national strategy through 2030 to reduce dependence on fossil fuels, two solar parks with equal generation capacity were connected to the National Electric System last year in the territory.

In addition, a five-megawatt project in La Ceniza, Pinar del Río, was launched, funded by a Chinese donation.