Portada | Cuba thanks China for new donation of 5,000 photovoltaic systems
Havana.- The president of Cuba, Miguel Díaz-Canel, thanked China this Sunday for the new donation of 5,000 photovoltaic systems, which recently arrived on the island, which is currently going through a severe energy crisis.
“We deeply appreciate this gesture from the Chinese people and government, which adds to the efforts Cuba is making to change its energy matrix, in the midst of the genocidal blockade,” the Cuban leader wrote on social media, alluding to the oil siege that the United States applies to the island.
Two days ago, the Chinese embassy in Havana delivered this second donation of 5,000 photovoltaic systems, intended to electrify homes in rural areas across the island’s 169 municipalities, according to the Cuban Ministry of Foreign Trade and Foreign Investment.
Last November, the Chinese government had donated another 5,000 photovoltaic panel kits for the homes that were left isolated in the eastern end of the island, following the passage of the powerful Hurricane Melissa.
Cuba has been suffering from an acute energy crisis since mid-2024, partly due to a deeply obsolete energy system that has lacked necessary investment for decades, a situation that has been aggravated since January by the oil blockade imposed by the U.S., which prevents crude oil from reaching the island.
Under such circumstances, the country’s energy situation is “critical” and “extremely tense,” as acknowledged by the Cuban government, and has escalated to record highs in recent months with seven total disconnections of the National Electric System (SEN) reported so far in 2026.
Most thermal power plants—responsible for 40% of generation—were built in the 1960s and 1970s, and daily, more than half of the generation units (16 in total) are not operational due to breakdowns or maintenance.
The Cuban government’s main bet to emerge from this crisis has been solar energy, primarily with Chinese support, and it has launched a program to build 92 solar parks across the island, with a total installed capacity of about 2,000 megawatts (MW).
According to the Ministry of Energy and Mines (Minem), the energy matrix change project in Cuba plans to cover 24 percent of electricity generation by 2030 through renewable energy sources.
Havana and Beijing maintain close political and economic relations, which make the Asian country one of the island’s main allies.

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