Photovoltaic equipment purchased from the United States rose from $500,000 in 2025 to $6.3 million so far this year
By 14ymedio
HAVANA TIMES – United States and China are waging another small battle in Cuba: this time over solar power. Although China is an unrivaled exporter both worldwide and specifically to the Island, a combination of proximity, liberalized regulations and the urgent needs of Cubans has turned the US into a growing supplier.
According to data from the US-Cuba Trade and Economic Council, compiled by the financial news outlet Bloomberg, so far this year United States companies have exported solar cels and modules to the Island worth $6.3 million, an increase of 1,070% compared with $500,000 the previous year. The figure is also more than 185 times the total for 2024.
“It is somewhat ironic that Cuba could become an important export market for renewable energy for US companies,” John Kavulich, president of Cuba Trade, told Bloomberg. “Especially considering the White House’s less-than-favorable stance toward renewable energy.”
Bloomberg specifically recounts the case of La Campana, an events venue in the Havana municipality of La Lisa that invested $10,000 to become independent not only from the national power grid but also from the noisy generator it had used for 15 years, for which fuel had become increasingly difficult — and expensive — to obtain.
A relative of the owner living abroad sent him, through the shipping agency CubaMax, the 5-kilowatt-hour lithium batteries he needed, which had previously been purchased on Amazon. As Bloomberg reports, while the Island was suffering its seventh nationwide blackout of the year last September, guests continued partying under the lights at La Campana and did not even realize what had happened until they left.
China is by far Cuba’s main supplier of solar energy equipment. In 2025 alone, Beijing shipped $117 million worth of photovoltaic equipment to the Island, compared with just $5 million in 2023. In early 2024, the Cuban government announced the construction of 92 solar parks by 2028 through contracts with two Chinese companies. More than 50 of them have already been completed.
Added to this are 10,000 kits delivered directly by the Chinese government in two batches of 5,000, which have been installed at medical facilities, in isolated areas and at centers serving vulnerable populations. In addition, in 2025 Cuban authorities spoke of a donation that could be used to build another 22 photovoltaic parks totaling 120 MW, seven of which already have the initial equipment needed for construction to begin.
China, the world’s largest exporter of this technology — accounting for nearly 80% of global exports, compared with 1% for the United States — has thus become the main contributor to Cuba’s shift in its energy mix. It sells the equipment to the State, which also retails it through Copextel to private individuals and businesses.
Bloomberg notes that, in contrast to the growth in sales from the United States, imports from China have slowed. It bases this assessment on exports recorded through the end of July, when sales totaled $19.5 million, a relatively small amount compared with the aforementioned $117 million in 2025. Although nearly half the year remained to be counted, the decline was significant — 83%, according to the report, although the news agency is comparing a full year with seven months.
The United States accounts for a much smaller figure, considering that China has exported solar equipment worth three times as much, but another factor to consider is the recipient. While Beijing supplies the State, kits arriving from US ports are destined for private individuals and privately owned businesses.
In 2021, the Cuban government authorized Cubans to import solar panels duty-free, a measure that was expanded in mid-2025 to include businesses, which have since been exempt not only from customs duties but also from airport fees, all in an effort to expand renewable energy amid an extreme energy crisis. In 2026, the situation has worsened with the end of Venezuelan oil deliveries and the US blockade of crude-oil shipments to Cuba from any country.
In August, authorities also issued a resolution authorizing the private sector to generate and sell electricity produced in this way, allowing private producers to sell surplus power to the State.
None of these measures has been sufficient to alleviate the country’s severe energy crisis, among other reasons because the weakness of Cuba’s thermoelectric power plants prevents the system from reliably compensating for the fluctuations inherent in renewable energy. In addition, the lack of batteries to store electricity generated during daylight hours renders the solar parks ineffective at night, during peak demand.
“Solar energy is a good investment as long as it is done intelligently, something that — unfortunately — they are not doing at the moment,” Jorge Piñon, a researcher at the University of Texas Energy Institute, told Bloomberg.
“The reason Cuba has not come to a halt, collapsed or been paralyzed is because the economy has shrunk by almost the same proportion as the volume of fuel it used to import,” Kavulich concluded.
First published in Spanish by 14ymedio and translated and posted in English by Havana Times.
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