By Courtney Parker*
HAVANA TIMES – China has the rare minerals; they have the manufacturing infrastructure and large-scale production; and they have the motivation in these turbulent times to further blur the existing lines between ‘humanitarian missions’ and ‘geopolitical leverage seeking’ by offering help during Cuba’s harrowing energy crisis.
China is currently positioning itself as a non-military ‘helper’ in addressing Cuba’s urgent energy crisis.They are taking a multi-pronged approach in bridging Cuba to a solar-powered future.
While limited individual units are being distributed to favored parties, there is also a larger plan unfolding to centralize solar power via larger-scale solar farms to harness this significant island resource.
However, it is possible that only limited individual or business setups will ever be distributed to individual homes, institutions, or entrepreneurs. So, are these just insular powerbroker moves? Is this a concrete step toward sustainability – or just a temporary bandaid?
The Cuban power grid is, suffice it to say, not in spectacular shape so the ultimate task of ‘addressing Cuba’s power crisis’ is challenging to say the least. It remains to be seen how much China will follow through with the necessary ongoing development(s) for truly sustaining solar power endeavors and transitions.
The larger-scale grid efforts could also pose issues of further concentration of power – literally – within the authoritarian grip that the Cuban government maintains over its people. There have already been reports of questionable labor practices involved in Cuban solar development, as detailed in this report last year from the Havana Times.
Solar power is not a unilateral industry, and a schism is arising between collective solar farms and individual home or business set-ups which can – if installed properly – feed ‘extra’ power back into the grid.
A home or individual business unit is fairly simple to install – if somewhat expensive to start up. More attention has been paid recently to the recycling and repurposing of used panels, not in the least because disposal of them is posing a significant problem long term.
Most home or private business installations are designed to function for about 25 years, but they are often traded in or outright discarded after 7 to 8 years – and this is causing both new waste management issues and alternatively, new recycling and repurposing opportunities for vulnerable communities that otherwise have no access to panels.
Home panels work by collecting sunlight which is then absorbed and transmitted as a ‘Direct Current’ (‘DC current’). After this, a ‘Converter’ switches the stream of power from the panels to the ‘Alternating Current’ (‘AC current’) that runs appliances and lights, etc.
With these sorts of set-ups, homes and businesses also have the option of using excess power to charge personal / individual batteries which can then bridge power supplies to their host units – whether households, institutions, or places of business – during times of mass crises or natural disasters (both of which Cuba and much of the Caribbean are unfortunately prone to).
Despite these selected (and likely selective) private installations, China is also planning the much more comprehensive mass solar project designed to feed directly into the Cuban power grid – to be distributed and marketed as the notoriously insular government sees fit (and only as the grid can currently, or in the future, withstand it in terms of foundational infrastructure).
This cost-risk analysis of centralized solar in more authoritarian nations, versus balanced support for individual set-ups which allow more personal freedom and control, is in no way happening in a vacuum. The tension between the two conflicting yet optionally coordinating paradigms is likewise emerging in the United States.
Home installations are big business (depending on who you ask) in the US at this time, with many startups and established companies excitedly expanding their reach. Noted ‘industry speak’ is leaning toward explicitly positioning the home installation companies as against – or as an alternative to – ‘Big Power’. They promote their home installations with this dichotomy in mind – putting ‘power’ into the hands of individuals and the private sector, while maintaining cooperation with and access to the larger grid.
These private installation companies – provided the location is connected to the larger power grid – also install ‘Bi-Directional Meters’ to replace standard electrical meters. ‘Bi-Directional Meters’ are capable of tracking electricity flowing both into and out of a home or business, and extra solar power collected can ostensibly be ‘sold’ back to the grid in some regions. How this might work in collective economies / nations like Cuba – and in anywhere in general, long term – remains to be seen.
Inserting geopolitical and human rights concerns into an already simmering schism makes this a game of chess rather than checkers for industry leaders, allied nations, and even individuals as all parties make reasoned choices for their communities, countries, homes, families, and businesses.
These interests can also shift at random depending on circumstances and context so making an effort to navigate the microcosm and macrocosm of ‘new solar’ can be a moving target for stakeholders.
As the global solar industry reckons with the positives and negatives related to centralized solar farms and individual installations, questions will continue emerging.
Some governments may prefer the idea of building sustainable solar farms to serve customers clean and (hopefully) cheaper energy through centralized grids, yet in the US economy which is based more on market competition, it would seem that private industry is pushing back with at least more semi-autonomous options.
It has been a long time since solar panels were merely for completely off-the-grid living and those seeking simple lifestyles or living in marginalized areas. Yet fully autonomous set-ups – to be used completely off a central power grid – deserve a newer and closer look as well in targeted areas as far as individual and population level needs and environmental fit.
Many citizens throughout the world are, and by any measure will remain, concerned about central power outages, outdated grids, and directed cyber-attacks – and this extends to concerns over price hikes in the name of sustainability which might ultimately deprive individual households of the benefit of the promised savings of ‘going solar’ in the long term.
And it seems a measure of general skepticism is always present regarding ‘promises’ that consumers will be able to ‘sell’ their extra solar-generated power back to the grid through the ‘Bi-Directional Meters’ on individual units even in the US – and yet how would this work in a communist nation? Could a ‘solar tax’ evolve in adaptable or high-producing areas? And at what real cost?
It should be noted that most individual installations include ‘Electrical Disconnects’ which can switch off the entire private system at any time if some malfunction occurs with the larger grid or otherwise, offering more protection from national or localized crises.
Solar panels are now even being marketed and sold individually for smaller scale adaptations such as water pumps. Access to these could be life-changers in subsistence economies.
The degrees of autonomy with which individual homeowners, landowners, or businesses can access autonomous energy sources needs further evaluation in relation to how each individual government might handle the ‘power’ that harnessing the sun’s natural energy brings.
It remains to be seen how thoroughly China will follow through in ways that bring true sustainability in terms of ‘powering’ the lives and livelihoods of the peoples living in the ongoing crises there.
The most recent energy and grid crisis in Cuba emerged due to the compounded effects of environmental and political forces; and the response dynamics are playing out now as technology, business, and geopolitical worlds collide in the wake.
What should a solar powered Cuba look like?
Starting from the last question, a recurring option gaining traction now for humanitarian development efforts is the reusing and refurbishing of individual solar panels (from homes / businesses or large scale solar farms) which can make the entire industry more cost-effective and also part of a ‘circular-economy’ of renewable energy – which can potentially help indigent communities and countries develop and maintain ‘energy sovereignty’ and reduce dependence on the current volatile nature of oil.
Due diligence might warn that this ‘trickle down’ theory could also create two – or more – ‘solar classes’. Critiques might be along the same lines as arguments for ‘net neutrality’ – in terms of equal access and special access – which is still an issue as the internet settles more and more into vague digital caste systems supported by AI-powered algorithms as a new status quo which defines each unique digital experience.
Digressions aside, perhaps one of the most important aspects of private solar units in many contexts is simply how they provide the opportunity to store power in private batteries, which both helps avoid the pollution emitted by diesel generators used when attempting to bridge rolling – or extended – black-outs or brown-outs, and they provide the option of disconnecting from a disrupted or corrupted grid in general and maintaining self-sustaining energy in emergencies – a control switch to disconnect the private set-up from the grid in times of crises would also be advantageous in this regard. It has been previously reported – here in the Havana Times – that even Cuba’s central solar aspirations are missing out to some degree on the key advantage of maximizing the benefits of battery storage.
As far as the circular system of use and re-use, some older panels may still contain materials which can pose problems after their usefulness has expired.
One group of scientists have come up with a statistical equation to determine the ‘net usefulness’ of a solar panel by plugging in different and easily measurable variables from an individual panel.
Yet the question always remains, where will the waste products go? As the island nation of Puerto Rico has learned, it has to go somewhere – as there is no ‘away’.
Cuba has been relaxing some of its restrictions on independent businesses of late but the nation shows no signs of releasing its grip on oppressive power – unless the recent release of over 2,000 prisoners, few being of the 1,200+ political prisoners, is any indication of a commitment to new standards.
Notably also of concern in this emerging dynamic is the country of Nicaragua – a country that has been heavy in the news lately for holding and ‘disappearing’ targeted political leaders and other ‘opposition’ figures.
Would the Ortega government allow such types of free enterprise as private or semi-private solar installations en masse – which may be seen as a threat to their concentration of power? These advancements could indeed increase myriad measures of public health, potentially even becoming a measure of success in their heavy-handed, ‘quasi-communist’, state regime, while also increasing Nicaragua’s overall GDP.
Because of course, Nicaragua has been quietly coordinating Chinese-backed solar expansion as well.
Do these coordinated projects – an explicit collectivist geopolitical declaration – have the potential to displace independent solar endeavors and shift independent or entrepreneurial projects into marginalization or effectively make them enemies of, or inconveniences to, the Nicaraguan state?
In simpler terms…will there be an economic, ‘clean energy’ proxy war, in Nicaragua or elsewhere in the Americas, as conditions are shifting swiftly on all fronts?
One thing is for certain…
The geopolitical politics of solar power have arrived
While the tension between private installations and solar-powered grids in the US – based on the balance of public and private interest – may embody more potential to maintain a healthy competition with cooperative interests…what happens in countries where there is no strong free enterprise to compete with such power monopolies?
Avoiding reductionism in the expansion of green technologies is always necessary as themes of environmentalism and environmental justice continue to spar in theory and in action.
In a balanced economy, there should be room for both public and private emerging solar infrastructure with open lines of proper and informed coordination between solar ‘sectors’, while maintaining equal degrees of personal access and opportunity… both regarding access to the central grid and the ability to harness solar in disconnected, independent units.
In areas of political unrest, crisis, and ‘humanitarian aid’ with invisible strings attached, solar power systems should be approached carefully as they have great potential to create more robust economies and public health advances. However, they also have the potential to disrupt or calcify larger agendas, cause a temporary ‘shock’ in access to services, or perpetuate imbalances of ‘power’, in every sense of the word.
And the questions continue:
China has among the largest solar farms in the world currently, as one would expect – although the Bhadla Solar Park in India is also among the elite models as far as output.
These massive developments often rely on clearcutting and flattening geographical features for their foundations, having a significant impact on biodiversity.
At least one endangered species has been linked to a solar farm in the Mojave Desert in the United States – the desert tortoise.
Particularly notable to island nations is the manner in which large-scale panel installations concentrate heat – and even pull it from the environment surrounding them. This process creates what are sometimes called ‘heat islands’ and they can be a destabilizing force to both local weather conditions and the general ecology of the region.
All clearcutting makes land subject to erosion and the disruption of homeostasis. So far Cuba has maintained an astounding amount of biodiversity and undeveloped land on the island. It would be a shame to lose that particular legacy chasing a mere geopolitical mirage of sustainable development and clean energy partnerships.
These particular issues and more lead to other options to consider – one being explored is a construct called, ‘Agrivoltaics’. This approach combines customized agricultural models with solar set-ups that produce value and offset some of the negative effects, creating a closed system model where collected solar energy enhances food production and land use.
Key aspects that Agrivoltaics can offer to the general sustainability equation are:
As far as human labor, there are some issues with the mass production of solar panels. Given that the world’s solar supply chain is China-centric – with some 45% of the planet’s polysilicon needed for panels produced in the Xinjiang region of China – it is duly noted that there have been reports detailing forced labor and other human rights abuses in these production facilities which include accusations of forced labor by the state.
In terms of a market economy then, exactly what all is being exported? Is it genuine commerce or is it product sans (sustainable) labor? The answer is probably both. However, the global supply chain relies on basic guidelines and creating an unfair advantage through inhumane labor systems must not be unilaterally rewarded.
In closing, marginalized communities have the potential to remain (or be further) marginalized by solar developments as well as through a strictly central grid. And Indigenous territories where inhabitants have preserved ecosystems with fragile land rights are now being eyed as lucrative regions to construct the mass installations that will inevitably power more prosperous regions.
In cases of land appropriations for solar farms:
Although this article has taken a hawkeye view on crucial current issues and challenges, that is not to imply that shifts towards clean energy should be immediately dismissed nor promptly critically dissected, especially purely on geopolitical terms.
Cuba is absolutely experiencing an unsustainable crisis that must be addressed as an emergency in the short-term while also building and guarding sustainability in the long term.
And, it looks like China may have a plan to support that.
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*Courtney Parker, MNPO, PhD is a HT guest author.
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