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Cuba is experiencing one of the fastest transitions to solar panels in the world, according to data from the think tank Ember. China jumped from US$ 3 million in exports of panels to the country in 2023 to US$ 117 million in 2025, and Cuba already has about 50 solar parks in operation spread across the island.
While the United States stifles the oil supply to Cuba and plunges the island into devastating national blackouts, a quiet revolution supported by China reorganizes the energy matrix of the Caribbean country. The solar panels imported from the Asian nation are multiplying across Cuban territory at a pace that few countries have managed to replicate in recent years.
According to data from the energy think tank Ember, Cuba is experiencing one of the fastest solar revolutions on the planet. Imports of Chinese solar panels and batteries have skyrocketed in the past year, and the country has built dozens of solar parks with financing and equipment coming directly from China. The scenario exposes one of the most striking geopolitical ironies of the moment: U.S. pressure is practically accelerating Cuba’s path towards energy independence from oil.
National blackouts expose the fragility of the Cuban system
The Cuban energy crisis is reaching unprecedented levels in decades. In March, the country suffered three nationwide blackouts that left about 10 million inhabitants without electricity for prolonged periods, with direct impacts on daily life.
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During these episodes, garbage accumulated in the streets, hospital surgeries were limited to urgent cases, and part of the population had to burn wood to cook. The image of a street in Havana completely dark during the national blackout of March 21, 2026, became a symbol of the most severe crisis of the Cuban electrical system in decades.
Blackouts have been part of daily life in Cuba for years due to the obsolete electrical infrastructure, which periodically collapses under the weight of a demand it cannot meet. The fuel shortage to power the thermoelectric plants has made the situation even more severe, turning occasional interruptions into regional and national collapses.
The blockade that strangled Cuban oil
Oil is the backbone of Cuba’s electrical system, and most of the fuel used on the island is imported. In the 1980s, the supply came mainly from the Soviet Union. With the Soviet collapse in the 1990s, Cuba began importing from Venezuela under a unique agreement: it sent medical professionals in exchange for the oil needed to keep the electrical system running.
At the beginning of January this year, however, this arrangement fell apart. After the Trump administration detained the president of Venezuela, the oil supply to Cuba was interrupted, and soon after, imports from other suppliers, including Mexico, also ceased in the face of the American threat to impose additional tariffs.
The effect was immediate and devastating for Cuba. Without fuel to burn in the thermoelectric plants, power generation plummeted, exacerbating a crisis that had already been dragging on. The economic siege set up by the United States effectively turned into an energy siege capable of directly affecting the life of every Cuban citizen.
The discreet entry of China into the Cuban energy sector
At the same time that oil was disappearing, another flow began to intensify strongly. China started exporting increasing volumes of solar panels and batteries to Cuba, fueling a strategy to replace the fossil fuel-based energy matrix.
The numbers are impressive. China exported about $3 million in solar panels to Cuba in 2023. This amount jumped to $117 million in 2025, an increase of almost 40 times in just two years, according to data compiled by Ember.
The movement materializes in concrete projects spread across the island. Cuba signed an agreement with China to inaugurate 92 solar parks across the country by 2028, with a forecast to provide a total of 2 gigawatts of clean energy, enough to supply more than 1.5 million homes. Cuban President Miguel Díaz-Canel inaugurated the first plant in February 2025, and currently about 50 units are already in operation.
The banner of renewable energy advances rapidly
The pace of solar panel installation in Cuba is considered surprising even by industry experts. The country installed about 1 gigawatt of solar energy in the last 12 months alone, according to a survey cited by Ember.
The results are already appearing in the composition of the electrical matrix. Renewable energy now represents about 10% of the electricity generated in Cuba, a significant leap from the approximately 3% recorded in 2024. The Cuban government has promised to raise this rate to at least 24% by 2030, and the current pace indicates that this goal may be reached ahead of schedule.
The cost of solar panels and batteries has plummeted in recent years in the global market, especially for products manufactured in China. This price reduction, combined with ease of installation, helps explain why the technology has spread so quickly across Cuban territory even amid the economic crisis affecting the country.
For China, the gain goes beyond money
The Chinese presence in Cuba combines commercial interest with broader geopolitical calculation. The sale of solar panels and batteries generates direct revenue for Chinese companies, but the strategic gain goes far beyond exports.
For Jorge Piñon, senior researcher at the Energy Institute of the University of Texas, China’s move has significant symbolic value.
“This will create goodwill, not only within Cuba but also with the rest of Latin America,” said Piñon in an interview with CNN.
China’s positioning as a provider of energy solutions for Cuba amid the United States blockade reinforces the image of the Asian country as a reliable alternative for nations under American pressure. The strategy connects with similar moves by China in other continents, especially in Africa and Southeast Asia.
The obstacles still hindering the Cuban solar revolution
Despite the rapid growth, experts warn that Cuba’s transition to solar panels still faces considerable structural limits. Solar energy is only generated while there is sunlight, which means it cannot meet the country’s nighttime demand alone.
Batteries can solve part of the problem, and their importation has also surged in recent months. But Cuba still lacks utility-scale storage, according to Jorge Piñon. The solar parks built with Chinese technology are small and dispersed, which limits their impact on the national power grid.
The biggest obstacle, however, is financial. The complete overhaul of the country’s aging electrical system will require investment that neither the Cuban state nor the island’s consumer can afford alone. The path to a complete energy transition hits precisely this unanswered question: who will foot the bill?
How much would Cuba’s energy independence cost
An analysis published in April by Kevin Cashman, economist at the Transition Security Project, presented concrete numbers on the cost of Cuba’s transition. The study puts into perspective the size of the challenge the country faces to free itself from dependence on imported oil.
According to the survey, it would cost about US$ 8 billion for Cuba to generate approximately 93% of its electricity from renewable sources. In this scenario, the country would no longer need to import oil and gas to produce energy. A 100% renewable system, however, would require an investment of US$ 19 billion, an amount that would cover the complete energy transition of the territory.
Cashman’s report highlights that the first level breaks the main external lever of coercion of the United States over Cuba, and the second completes the transition of the country’s electrical matrix. The difference between the two scenarios shows that even a partial investment in solar panels would already have a decisive geopolitical effect.
For the ordinary Cuban, the benefits are still slow to arrive
The solar panel revolution has not yet reached the daily life of most of the population. For many Cubans, blackouts remain routine, and the improvement promised by clean energy is seen from afar.
Cuban economist Ricardo Torres, from American University in Washington, summarizes the sentiment of the majority of the population. According to him, if the question about the benefits of the solar program were asked to an ordinary Cuban, the answer would probably be negative, precisely because the blackouts are worse now than they were a year ago. Torres bought small solar modules for family members on the island but acknowledges that the technology remains out of reach for most, who struggle even to buy food.
There are, however, specific exceptions that point to the future. In the city of Santa Clara, the country’s first solar-powered charging station was inaugurated, where Cubans can charge cell phones, portable batteries, and even electric motorcycles with clean energy. The station has become a symbol of what the solar revolution can, in the long run, offer to the common citizen in Cuba.
A signal for other countries pressured by the USA
The Cuban case does not happen in isolation. Several countries around the world depend on importing oil from specific suppliers and are exposed to similar geopolitical pressures that affect Cuba. The experience of the Caribbean island can serve as a reference for other nations in a similar situation.
Kevin Cashman sees a broader lesson in the Cuban situation. According to him, the case of the Caribbean island serves as a clear signal to other countries about the path that the energy transition can offer in times of geopolitical turmoil. The combination of ever-decreasing costs of solar panels and storage systems with the global instability of oil prices creates a scenario where betting on clean energy ceases to be an ideological option and becomes a national security strategy.
China, in turn, seems ready to occupy this space in other markets. Its presence in Cuba serves as a showcase, showing that the Asian nation can execute large-scale projects in countries with fragile infrastructure and adverse economic situations. What is at stake, in the end, goes far beyond Cuba’s electrical matrix: it is the reorganization of energy alliances on a global scale.
The case of Cuba shows how geopolitical pressures can accelerate structural transformations that seemed impossible. The combination of the American oil blockade, Chinese support for clean energy, and the drop in solar technology costs has created an unprecedented scenario in the Caribbean. Blackouts remain a harsh reality, but the path to energy transition is progressing at a surprising pace.
And you, what do you think about this turnaround? Do you believe that Cuba will be able to complete the transition with China’s support? Do you think other countries pressured by the United States might follow the same path? Leave your comment, share your opinion, and tag someone interested in geopolitics and energy.
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