The official newspaper Vanguardia, the official body of the Communist Party in Villa Clara, reported this Saturday that as part of an energy advancement, the province now has 46 operational "solineras" or solar charging stations, some located in communities subject to power outages of 20 hours a day or more.
Armando Hernández Pedroso, provincial director of the National Office for the Rational Use of Energy (Onure), reported that the facilities are distributed across the 13 municipalities of Villa Clara, with priority given to Santa Clara and other areas affected by prolonged electrical service interruptions.
"The preference when creating these initiatives that greatly benefit the population has been for those areas that experience daily blackouts of 20 hours or more," stated the official.
In those communities, the solar charging stations allow for the free charging of cell phones, fans, and lamps, in addition to facilitating meal preparation. However, the recharging service for electric vehicles and bicycles does incur a cost.
Each installation has an average power of 10 kilowatts and 20 kilowatt-hours of storage, although some exceed these values, according to Hernández Pedroso.
Authorities plan to inaugurate in September a new charging station in each municipality of Villa Clara and four more in Santa Clara, aiming to solidify the province's position as one of the territories with the highest development of this model in Cuba.
The first solar station in Villa Clara was inaugurated on April 5 in the Virginia popular council. The project was completed in nine days by the Gomate Local Development Project and features 56 solar panels, 30 kilowatts of power, and 60 kilowatt-hours of storage.
Since then, other stations have been installed in neighborhoods such as Sandino, José Martí, and Ciro Redondo, including the first fast and ultra-fast charging station in the country for electric vehicles.
One element that the official narrative systematically omits is that most of the solineras are initiatives of private small and medium-sized enterprises, not the State.
In July, the first secretary of the Communist Party in Villa Clara, Susely Morfa González, celebrated on Facebook the inauguration of the LEOS gas station, operated by the private entrepreneur Leandro Prada Santana, and credited the achievement to the state Electric Company without mentioning the entrepreneur.
That contradiction was documented when the official wrote: "The Electric Company is an example of seeking alternatives and new services," actually referring to a private initiative.
The proliferation of "solineras," a Cuban neologism that combines "solar" and "gas station," is happening as a decentralized response to the country's worst energy crisis in decades.
The National Electroenergetic System has experienced several partial and total disconnections over the past 18 months and consistently reports high generation deficits, leading to ongoing blackouts that can exceed 24 hours in various locations.
The situation worsened since January with the suspension of Venezuelan crude oil shipments and the cut in Mexican oil exports under pressure from sanctions imposed by the Trump administration.
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