The José Martí popular council in Santa Clara introduced two community solar charging stations for electronic devices, motorbikes, and electric tricycles this Thursday, amidst the prolonged blackouts affecting the residents.
The "solinera" Albe operates with photovoltaic panels and battery storage systems, allowing it to function independently from the national electrical grid. Neighbors can go there to charge cell phones, fans, lamps, small motorcycles, and electric tricycles.
The second installation, called La Verbena, is located on Gloria Street between Maceo and Unión. It features a fixed charging station that serves the public from 9:00 a.m. to 3:00 p.m., reported the station CMHW.
The inaugurations were part of the events organized in Villa Clara to commemorate the centenary of the birth of the dictator Fidel Castro (1926-2016) and were attended by Susely Morfa González, the first secretary of the Communist Party in the province, and the governor Milaxy Yanet Sánchez Armas.
According to the source, both facilities are part of a network of solar infrastructures that Villa Clara has been developing since April as a decentralized response to the electricity crisis.
The proliferation of "solineras," a Cuban neologism that combines "solar" and "gas station," occurs as a decentralized response to the country's worst energy crisis in decades.
This situation has been exacerbated by the suspension of Venezuelan crude oil shipments, the cut in Mexican oil exports under pressure from Trump's administration sanctions, along with decades of poor economic management by the government that has prioritized the construction of luxury hotels at the expense of modernizing energy infrastructure.
The first solar station in the central province was inaugurated on April 5 in the Virginia popular council, built in just nine days by the Gomate Local Development Project with 56 solar panels, 30 kW of power, and 60 kWh of storage.
Since then, the model has been replicated in the neighborhoods of Sandino, José Martí, and Ciro Redondo. In the context of the celebrations for July 26, the first fast charging station for electric vehicles in the country was also inaugurated, operated by the private micro, small, and medium-sized enterprise Solguara at kilometer five of the Santa Clara exit highway.
The Cuban government has introduced recent tax incentives, such as the Resolution 180/2026 from the Ministry of Finance and Prices, published on August 7 in the Official Gazette, which maintains the exemption of tariffs for importing solar panels, batteries, inverters, and chargers for electric vehicles with renewable energy sources until December 31, 2027.
The "solineras" model has spread across the island. Matanzas is planning nine collective charging points, Havana announced a station in Vedado, Holguín has already inaugurated its station, and there is a plan in Guantánamo to build about 15, reflecting the extent of an energy crisis that the state has been unable to resolve through conventional means.
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