OE Watch Commentary: Since the creation of the Comprehensive Cooperation Agreement signed between Cuba and Venezuela in 2000, Cuba has had the benefit of importing cheap oil from Venezuela. However, due to reduced oil shipments and political instability in the Maduro regime, Cuba is increasingly exploring alternate approaches to support its energy needs, and China is helping with this search.
As the first excerpt from the official Chinese news site, Xinhua, points out, the Chinese are helping to construct “a vast complex consisting of two windfarms, La Herradura 1 and La Herradura 2, located in the province of Las Tunas, some 600 km east of Havana.” Chinese technology will be supporting the plans, with “Goldwind Science and Technology Co., a global provider of wind turbines over the last three years, and Dongfang Electric Corporation” being the two Chinese companies to complete the project. The excerpt states that the complexes “will generate around 101 Megawatts (MW) of energy that will be fed into the National Electric System,” making Cuba “69th worldwide in wind energy.”
The second excerpt (also from Xinhua) points out that this new project is part of a national strategy to “increase the participation of renewable energy sources up 24 percent in the country’s electricity generation by 2030.” Considering China’s recent replacement of Venezuela as Cuba’s leading trading partner, renewable energy projects such as this could further strengthen Cuba-Sino trade relations. End OE Watch Commentary (Kelsay)
…To reach that goal, Cuba plans to produce around 24 percent of its total energy needs from different renewable sources by 2030. It is an ambitious target given that as of 2006, the island nation generated only 4.3 percent of its energy from renewable sources. One of the key projects currently under construction is a vast complex consisting of two wind farms, La Herradura 1 and La Herradura 2, located in the province of Las Tunas, some 600 km east of Havana. They will generate around 101 Megawatts (MW) of energy that will be fed into the National Electric System….
Behind the complex is Chinese technology, according to Adela Alvarez, an official at Cuba’s Integrated Wind Energy Management company…. Cuban officials chose two Chinese companies to supply the project -- Goldwind Science and Technology Co., a global provider of wind turbines over the last three years, and Dongfang Electric Corporation, a firm specializing in renewable energies and high technology.
La Herradura 1 will be equipped with 34 Goldwind wind turbines measuring 65 meters in height with three 37-meter blades, generating 1.5 MW of power distributed in five circuits.
La Herradura 2 will feature 20 Dongfang wind turbines of 2.5 MW each, which will contribute a total of 50 MW to Cuba’s electric grid…. Total installed capacity currently stands at 11.7 MW, which means the Caribbean nation ranks 69th worldwide in wind energy.