Sustainability Evaluation of Rural Electrification in Cuba: From Fossil Fuels to Modular Photovoltaic Systems: Case Studies from Sancti Spiritus Province

Abstract

In the last ten years, there has been a progressive improvement in rural electrification indexes in developing countries, and renewable energies are progressively being integrated into electrification programs. In Cuba, the government has set a target of 700 MW in solar photovoltaic energy by 2030, including rural electrification and off-grid systems. Within this framework, 10,000 modular systems of 300 Wp are being installed in isolated communities. Nowadays, previously diesel-electrified settlements are migrating into renewable energy technologies projects in rural Cuba. The objective of this research is to evaluate the sustainability of these changes in order to identify the implications for other developing countries, taking four different dimensions into account: environmental, technical, socioeconomic, and institutional. For this purpose, the rural communities of Yaguá (diesel-based) and Río Abajo (solar-based) in the province of Sancti Spiritus are visited and studied. Results show that the institutional dimension of sustainability is positive thanks to improvements in energy security and promotion of the Cuban national plan goals. Moreover, results confirm that the energy transition from diesel-based to solar PV is environmentally sustainable in Cuba, but improvements are still necessary in the power capacity of solar modules to strengthen the socioeconomic and technical dimensions.