Narrative
Full Description
Project narrative
On March 2, 2015, the Chinese and Cuban governments signed an Exchange of Letters for the implementation of solar power station projects. Cuba's Ministry of Energy and Mines planned to install photovoltaic facilities, capable of 29 MW in total, on five Cuban solar farms through a $24,590,000 grant and $22,950,000 soft loan, both provided by the Chinese Ministry of Commerce (MOFCOM). The grant is captured in linked Record ID#54762. The project management unit is China Qiyuan Engineering Design and Research Institute Co., Ltd., and the project general contractor is China Hydropower Engineering Consulting Group Company. The first stage of this project involved the construction of two photovoltaic plants with a combined capacity of 9 MW. The pair includes a 4 MW solar farm in the Pinar del Rio province and a 5 MW plant in Cienfuegos province, the latter being the largest facility of its kind in Cuba. Construction of the power plants began on 18 November, 2016 and was completed and successfully passed technical acceptance on 12 April, 2018. On 26 April, 2018, the ceremony for the completion and handover of the photovoltaic power plants was held at the site of the 5MW project in the town of Yaguaramas, Cienfuegos Province, Cuba. Solar parks will continue to be constructed in the Cienfuegos province until 2030. China will provide the technology while Cuba will take care of the physical construction.
Staff comments
1. This project has been coded with Implementation status, as only 9 MW of the expected 29 MW has been completed. It is not known whether all of the solar projects being constructed in Cienfuegos are being financed by China but the ones that are already complete have had Chinese participation. 2. The Chinese project title is 援古巴太阳能电站. 3. Other sources have quoted the total capacity for this project as 21 MW (See: 2016/17 Knowledge Sharing Program (Industry & Trade) with Cuba and China entrega a Cuba dos parques de paneles solares para generar energías limpias).