China to help Cuba with solar energy amid US oil blockade and total power outage
Beijing will ‘intensify its support’ to Havana after around 10.9 million people were left without power amid an ongoing energy crisis
Beijing’s ambassador to Cuba, Hua Xin, on Monday outlined joint energy projects in progress as part of an effort to ease a “complex power situation” in the Caribbean nation, the Cuban Ministry of Foreign Affairs said.
“China has always maintained that Latin America and the Caribbean are one big family of sovereign, independent countries and in no way can be the backyard of any country,” Hua told a news conference in Cuba, according to the ministry’s website.
Cuban media outlet CiberCuba quoted the ambassador saying Beijing will “intensify its support to Havana” through new energy projects, with a particular focus on developing renewable sources such as solar.
Donors from China have already given 5,000 “household” solar energy equipment sets for installation at three Cuban clinics and a home for the elderly, Chinese official news agency Xinhua said on Thursday.
China has also helped Cuba develop 49 new “solar parks” with more on the way by 2028, according to the International Action Centre, a US-based advocacy group. It said solar power production had grown from 5.8 per cent of total energy generation early last year to more than 20 per cent this month.