The "Cárdenas I" photovoltaic park, with an installed capacity of 3.75 megawatts (MW) peak, was inaugurated on Thursday in the outskirts of the municipality of Matanzas, as part of the "10 MW peak installation program" project.
With a total of 11,700 panels, "Cárdenas I" is one of the four solar plants installed and synchronized to the national electric power system with the credit from the Abu Dhabi Development Fund, in partnership with the International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA). , for its acronym in English).
This renewable energy park, together with that of Mayajigua and Venegas, in Sancti Spíritus, of 2.5 and 1.25 MWp of power, respectively, and the photovoltaic park of the Mechanical Plant, in Camagüey, with 2.5 MWp installed, add up a total power of 10MWp.
"With these first 10MWp, 15,000 MW per year are produced, equivalent to the annual electricity consumption of 6 thousand 944 Cuban homes. An annual saving of 4,700 tons of oil will be reported and 12,700 tons of carbon dioxide will be emitted into the atmosphere in the same period, "said Liván Arronte Cruz, Deputy Minister of Energy and Mines.
The project for the construction of the four solar parks had a financing of 15 million dollars, which "facilitates the development of the electrical system and contributes to the transformation of our generation matrix," said Arronte Cruz.
For his part, Bader Almatrooshi, Ambassador of the Arab Emirates in Cuba, indicated that the opening of this solar park represents the beginning of the collaboration with the Greater Antilles to face the effects of climate change.
"In 2017, the Arab Emirates launched a program to develop this type of collaboration with a very high level of funding, to support renewable energy plans in around 16 countries in the Caribbean," added the Emirati diplomat.
The International Renewable Energy Agency (IRENA) is in charge of managing financing for projects of this type of energy, which are a governmental and national priority in developing countries. "Seven thousand families are now favored because a clean and permanent energy comes to their house, and we are very pleased with the positive ambition of the Cuban government to increase its electricity production," said Francesco la Camera, IRENA's director general.
Francesco la Camera also recognized the capacity that the Caribbean country has to make, plan and build projects of this magnitude.