Cuba Energy Storage Project

Building a Cleaner, More Resilient Energy System in Cuba recommends numerous ways by which domestic policy in Cuba can prioritize working towards a more sustainable, resilient grid — especially by investing in the energy transition — and ways in which international cooperation can support these goals.

While small-scale, such renewable energy initiatives can reduce pressure on the energy grid and provide relief in especially vulnerable places. Due to rising temperatures and increasingly unreliable energy infrastructure, action to update Cuba's energy grid is urgently necessary.

The report highlights the issue that not only is Cuba's energy infrastructure in a precarious state of aging and disrepair, but also that its entire energy system relies heavily on external aid and imported fossil fuels.

These solar microgrid and battery storage systems allowed the Culebra residents with the systems to maintain essential energy throughout hurricane Fiona in September, 2022, when others on the island lost power.

Cuba is dependent on fossil fuels for energy generation and relies on oil imports of crude and fuel oil from Venezuela and Russia, as well as floating power plants provided through an agreement with a Turkish business group.

In fact, EDF is making strides by supporting trainings in clean energy solutions in a few Cuba communities via an ecosystem-based adaptation project to increase community resilience funded by the Caribbean Biodiversity Fund.