A solar-powered charging station in central Cuba brings life to a darkened island

SANTA CLARA, Cuba (AP) — Yudelaimys Barrero Muñoz used to spend up to three hours on the side of a highway under the blazing sun waving money at drivers as she attempted to hitch a ride from Cienfuegos, Cuba to Santa Clara, where she buys supplies to resell and support her husband and two children.

The 43-mile (70-kilometer) trip was impossible to make on her husband’s bicycle — at one time the family’s only mode of transportation — and later, with a rechargeable, three-wheeled vehicle whose battery didn’t have the capacity for the round trip.

Then, in early April, a local business owner opened what is believed to be Cuba’s first solar-powered charging station — and it was free. Cubans soon flocked to the solar station — or “solinera” as it’s known in Cuba — recharging everything from electric vehicles to UV nail lamps.

The Cuban government has stepped up the installation of solar panels in hospitals and other public places and established solar farms in the face of chronic blackouts and in recent months, a severe gas shortage stemming from a U.S. energy blockade.

Renewable energy now accounts for some 10% of the island’s electricity, up from 3.6% in 2024, but distribution remains limited, and few Cubans can afford such a system. Globally, just over 30% of electricity generation comes from renewable energies like solar, wind and hydropower, according to energy think tank Ember.

Because there is little gas for cars these days, Cubans are traveling miles to the Santa Clara solar station on rechargeable motorcycles and three-wheeled vehicles. Others walk to the station. They haul cellphones with nearly depleted batteries, rice cookers, pressure cookers — an endless array of gadgets, appliances and vehicles that need power.

“They have solved many problems for many people,” Barrero Muñoz said.

She and her husband, along with their children, ages 3 and 4, drive regularly to Santa Clara now that they can charge their three-wheeled vehicle at the solar station.

“If it hadn’t been for this, I wouldn’t have been able to keep selling,” she said.

Barrero Muñoz now buys rice, sugar, hot dogs, mortadella, soap, shampoo, deodorant and other items regardless of their weight, because it all goes into the vehicle instead of the two bags and a backpack she used to haul when she was forced to hitch a ride.

“I have more clients because I have more merchandise,” she said with a smile.

Cars are largely absent on the highway from Havana to Santa Clara; horse-drawn carts are a more common sight in rural areas, where, inevitably, crises in Cuba hit harder.

With nearly a quarter of a million people, Santa Clara is one of Cuba’s most populous cities, best known as the city of “Marta and El Che.”

El Che — Ernesto Guevara de la Serna — led a key battle during Cuba’s 1959 Revolution in Santa Clara, where his remains are housed in a mausoleum.

It is also the town of Marta de los Ángeles González Abreu y Arencibia, a well-known philanthropist who supported Santa Clara and Cuba’s push for independence.

Santa Clara is home to people like Danailys Arboláez Pérez, a 32-year-old mother of two who sells sandwiches, coffee, beer and cigarettes out of her home. It is a short walk away from the solar station.

“Almost everyone in this neighborhood goes there,” she said.

Arboláez Pérez has cooked rice and beans and even fried fish at the solar station, even when she has electricity because she would like to save money on natural gas.

She also recharges two fans that cool the rooms of her 2-year-old son and 7-year-old daughter as Cuba’s temperatures start rising, noting that the power outages last year were “apocalyptic.”

She’s grateful that she no longer has to jump out of bed when the power suddenly comes on, forcing her to cook or wash at untimely hours including 2 a.m.

“We’re not running around so much,” she said. “I cook slowly, calmly. … If the power goes out, I’ll just take the pot there.”

Alexander Gutiérrez Altuve works at the business next door that helped finance and set up the solar station in Santa Clara.

It’s unknown how much the project cost, but he said the owner of the business, who was not available for an interview, worked with the government to install solar panels that provide 30 kilowatts of energy and a battery of 60 kilowatts. That’s enough energy to power the average U.S. home for a single day.

The station has 20 sockets to charge equipment, 16 spots to charge vehicles and 12 for cooking.

“This is something that hadn’t really been done before,” Gutiérrez Altuve said.

Some people are too shy to try it out.

“They are truly surprised when you tell them that it’s free,” said Lisandra Couto Pérez, a co-worker of Gutiérrez Altuve who helps track usage.

On a recent afternoon, Lorenzo Ravelo, Barrero Muñoz’s husband, drove his three-wheeled vehicle into the station and plugged it in as his wife and two young children hopped out the back.

Before buying the small three-wheeler, Ravelo would borrow money from neighbors to rent a car if their children needed medical care, “and later make payments however you can and whenever you can.”

With only a bicycle at the time, he couldn’t take his family on fun road trips to help them escape Cuba’s daily grind. Now, they can even go in their own vehicle to the beach, he explained, tearing up.

“It’s a great solution,” he said.

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