The Cabaiguán photovoltaic park, with a capacity of 21.87 MW, located in the central province of Sancti Spíritus, began operations after just over two months of installation. This is part of Cuba’s national plan that calls for the construction of 55 solar parks by 2025, each with a capacity of 21.8 MW, with a total capacity of 1,200 MW by the end of 2025. These photovoltaic parks are part of a plan presented by the Cuban Ministry of Energy and Mines (Minem) in March 2024, which proposes the installation of a total of 92 photovoltaic parks by 2028, with a total installed capacity of 2,000 MW (Figure 1).
During July 2025, the island connected two additional parks, in the provinces of Villa Clara and Ciego de Ávila, increasing the total installed capacity to approximately 530 MW, with contributions that reach significant levels to the national grid during peak solar radiation hours. As indicated by official reports, each park will have between 42,588 and 43,904 solar panels, with 560 Wp and 555 Wp, respectively.
According to information provided by the Cuban newspaper Granma, only four of the projects that will be operational this year have a 50-MW battery storage system. These are located in Bayamo, Granma province; in Cueto, Holguín province; at the José Antonio Echeverría Technological University of Havana (CUJAE); and in El Cotorro, in Havana province.
The development of these facilities is being carried out in cooperation with Chinese companies, which provide both technology and financing for project execution. The agreements include the arrival of solar panels and battery storage systems, although, as previously explained, only four of the 55 facilities planned for 2025 will have energy storage, which limits their contribution outside of daylight hours and presents technical challenges for this massive introduction of solar generation.
For most of the day, the electricity generated is consumed in real time, with no significant capacity to cover nighttime demand, a factor that limits the tangible benefits in terms of reducing blackouts and ensuring the stability of the electrical system.
Financing for the new facilities comes from a combination of domestic investment and international collaboration, with a notable focus on natural resource payment agreements with China.
According to Cuban Minister of Energy and Mines Vicente de la O Levy, this plan seeks to alleviate the island’s current energy crisis. He also indicated that contracts for energy generation from renewable sources have been signed and are underway, with the goal of enabling the country “to recover from its backwardness and achieve 24% penetration of these renewable technologies in Cuba by 2030.” In this regard, he indicated that the planned solar installations will allow the country to stop importing 750,000 tons of fuel.
“We have opted to emerge from the crisis with our own resources, despite the energy situation the country is facing,” said de la O Levy. He also acknowledged that “these have been very difficult months on the island due to the lack of fuel, although the maintenance carried out by the state-owned Unión Eléctrica to restore the technical condition of the thermal power plants has reduced breakdowns.”
The Cuban government’s program calls for the synchronization of five new solar parks each month, although the pace of construction and commissioning will depend on factors such as resource availability, logistics for importing components, and the conditions of the national grid. The cost of each park is about $16 million for imported equipment, plus domestic investment in infrastructure and operations.
According to a recent statement made by Minem, the energy production of the 26 new photovoltaic solar parks on August 29, 2025, was 2,366 MWh, with 557 MW as the maximum power delivered during midday with this generation source.
—Amaury Pérez Sánchez (amauryps@nauta.cu) is a chemical engineer based in Cuba with the University of Camagüey.
