China has begun the second phase of energy assistance to Cuba with a 120 MW solar generation plan, and the first result is a photovoltaic park with batteries that regulates voltage, controls frequency, and provides local autonomy to an island suffocated by chronic blackouts.

Written by Maria Heloisa Barbosa Borges

Published on 09/05/2026 at 13:02

Updated on 09/05/2026 at 13:03

16 people reacted to this.

According to the Prensa Latina portal, Cuba’s new solar park, located in Majagua with 5 MW capacity and a 1 MW battery for storage, marks the beginning of the second phase of energy cooperation with China, which foresees 120 MW in solar generation for an island where chronic blackouts compromise the daily energy supply.

Cuba has just put into operation the country’s first solar park equipped with a battery storage system, an installation that represents much more than five megawatts added to the national electricity grid. Located in the municipality of Majagua, in the province of Ciego de Ávila, the project inaugurates a new phase of energy cooperation between the Caribbean island and China, which has committed to enabling 120 MW in solar generation as part of the second stage of assistance to the Cuban energy sector. For a country suffocated by chronic blackouts and dependence on imported fossil fuels, every installed solar megawatt changes the energy survival equation.

What makes this solar park unique is not only its generation capacity, but also the integrated 1 MW battery system designed to maintain voltage quality, regulate grid frequency, and ensure local autonomy when conventional supply fails. Cuba now has, for the first time, a photovoltaic installation capable of operating independently during outages, something no other solar park in the country offered until now. China provided technology, equipment, and about 20 specialists who participated in the construction alongside Cuban technicians.

The Majagua solar park and what changes in Cuba’s grid

The new solar park is located in Majagua, a municipality in the province of Ciego de Ávila, central Cuba. The installation operates at full capacity and has added 5 MW to the national electricity system, a volume that may seem modest in absolute terms but gains relevance when considering the fragility of Cuba’s energy infrastructure. In a grid that suffers frequent collapses due to overload and lack of maintenance, each additional generation source helps reduce pressure on aging thermoelectric plants that operate far beyond their designed lifespan.

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1 MW Battery: autonomy, voltage, and frequency under control

The technical differential that separates the Majagua solar park from all other photovoltaic installations in Cuba is the 1 MW battery storage system. This component was designed with three specific functions: to maintain the quality of electrical voltage delivered to consumers, to regulate grid frequency during oscillations, and to ensure local autonomy when the national system suffers interruptions. In practice, the battery transforms the solar park from a simple daytime generator into a reliable 24-hour energy source, at least within the limit of the stored charge.

To understand the impact, one must consider the context. Cuba’s electricity grid operates with voltage and frequency variations that damage domestic and industrial equipment, and blackouts do not follow a predictable schedule. When conventional supply fails, entire communities are left without electricity for hours. With the solar park’s battery system, the locality of Majagua gains a safety cushion that absorbs these failures and keeps the energy supply at least partially active while the national grid recovers. This is the first time Cuba has had this response capability in a solar installation, and the model is already being pointed to as a reference for future cooperation projects with China.

The second stage of energy cooperation between China and Cuba

The inauguration of the Majagua solar park is not an isolated project. It officially marks the beginning of the second stage of China’s energy assistance to Cuba, a program that foresees the installation of 120 MW of solar generation capacity in Cuban territory. The Chinese commitment represents the largest injection of renewable infrastructure Cuba has ever received from an international partner, surpassing in scale any previous initiative in the island’s photovoltaic sector.

The cooperation involves technology transfer, equipment supply, and technical training. Around 20 Chinese specialists worked alongside Cuban technicians in the construction and commissioning of the Majagua solar park, a model that is expected to be replicated in future projects. For China, energy assistance to Cuba combines diplomacy, geopolitical projection, and a practical demonstration of competitiveness in the solar energy sector, a segment in which the Asian country dominates the global production chain of photovoltaic panels and battery systems. During the inauguration ceremony, Cuban representatives formally thanked China for its support in developing the country’s energy infrastructure.

What 120 MW mean for an island in an energy crisis

The 120 MW solar generation plan must be read in the context of a country where energy is the most scarce and contested resource in daily life. Cuba faces chronic blackouts that can last from four to twelve hours a day, a result of a combination of external embargo, obsolete power plants, and fossil fuel shortages. If the 120 MW foreseen in the cooperation with China are fully installed, the island’s solar capacity will make a leap that can significantly reduce the frequency and duration of blackouts in strategic provinces.

However, challenges remain. Cuba’s distribution grid is as aged as the power plants that feed it, and installing generation capacity without modernizing transmission can create bottlenecks that limit the actual utilization of the solar energy produced. The storage battery tested in Majagua points to a partial solution to this problem, by allowing energy to be consumed locally without relying on long-distance transmission lines. If the solar park with battery is replicated in other provinces, Cuba can build a decentralized microgeneration network that bypasses the limitations of central infrastructure and delivers energy directly where it is needed.

And you, do you believe that cooperation between China and Cuba can truly solve the island’s energy crisis? Should the Majagua solar park with battery model be replicated in other countries with chronic blackouts? Leave your comment and say whether 120 MW of solar generation is enough to transform Cuba’s energy reality.

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Orville

#242928

13/05/2026 10:29

And what is china getting…

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Serge55

#242866

11/05/2026 11:20

Is it too much to ask for journalists to check the numbers before publishing? 1 MW battery what does it even mean? 1 MWh maybe? And if the plant delivers to consumers 5MW of power, that battery is going to be good at night for exactly 12 minutes

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John

#242829

09/05/2026 22:23

nice for cuba. America can go to hell

America is Satan child

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China has begun the second phase of energy assistance to Cuba with a 120 MW solar generation plan, and the first result is a photovoltaic park with batteries that regulates voltage, controls frequency, and provides local autonomy to an island suffocated by chronic blackouts.

The Majagua solar park and what changes in Cuba’s grid

1 MW Battery: autonomy, voltage, and frequency under control

The second stage of energy cooperation between China and Cuba

What 120 MW mean for an island in an energy crisis

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China has begun the second phase of energy assistance to Cuba with a 120 MW solar generation plan, and the first result is a photovoltaic park with batteries that regulates voltage, controls frequency, and provides local autonomy to an island suffocated by chronic blackouts.

The Majagua solar park and what changes in Cuba’s grid

1 MW Battery: autonomy, voltage, and frequency under control

The second stage of energy cooperation between China and Cuba

What 120 MW mean for an island in an energy crisis

A British company has installed in the middle of the ocean the world’s first floating platform that generates electricity 24 hours a day from the temperature difference between the surface and the depths of the Atlantic, without relying on wind or sun.

Great Atlantic Sargassum Belt has ceased to be a climatic phenomenon and has become a biological system that feeds on itself, with 8,000 kilometers in length, 37 million tons of algae, and scientists confirm that it is now permanent.

China is building an artificial island in the middle of the sea, covering 20 km², to construct the largest offshore airport in the world, the Dalian Jinzhouwan. This $4.3 billion project is anchored on more than 3,000 pillars embedded in the rock beneath the ocean and is scheduled to open in 2035.

A robot named Walter does the work of five bricklayers per hour and can save the construction industry, where the average age of professionals is 46 years and almost no one wants to learn the trade anymore, in the United Kingdom.

Austrian engineers have developed an inflatable concrete technology that transforms flat slabs into domes using only air pressure, eliminating scaffolding and temporary forms, and potentially changing the way bridges, tunnels, and curved roofs are constructed worldwide.

Engineers had to pour concrete mixed with tons of ice throughout entire nights in the Dubai desert to erect the Burj Khalifa; any carelessness could clog the pipes half a mile high.

The James Webb telescope spotted a planet 700 light-years from Earth with mornings full of sand clouds and nights with clear skies, the temperature difference between the two hemispheres reaches an impressive 170 degrees.

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