Expert Jorge Piñón believes that the support of China and Russia will not be enough to rescue the national electricity system
14ymedio, Madrid, September 29, 2025 — The Cuban government’s strategy to recover the national electricity system (SEN) is completely wrong, explains University of Texas researcher Jorge Piñón in an interview published on Monday by Bloomberg Linea. The expert is clear that, in the short term, it is impossible to have a solution by betting on a radical change through the use of liquefied natural gas and biomass – the latter especially, because it would regenerate, in parallel, the sugar industry.
“If you say to me tomorrow: ‘Hey, here’s a $20 bill, where are you going to invest it?’ I will tell you in biomass, because it gives me sugar, electricity and ethanol, which, as fuel, can reduce the need to import gasoline,” Piñón tells the economic media. In his opinion, the Island has a huge potential in sugar as an energy generator, a model that follows Brazil. However, the condition of the sugar mills and an ever shrinking sugar harvest act against it. “I would forget drilling for oil and bet on the Cuban countryside to repair the sugar mills and increase cane production.”
In the face of the usual announcements by the Cuban authorities, above all about the small solar installations, which generate only 21 megawatts (MW) each, the specialist rejects the national source of crude oil as energy, due to its high sulphur content, which has contributed to the deterioration of the currently declining thermoelectric plants due to overuse. Pìñón qualifies the national crude oil as “harmful, very harmful” for the thermoelectric plants. “It is a vicious circle: they repair the plants, but they break again because of the crude oil used for fuel.”
“It is a vicious circle: they repair the plants, but they break again because of the crude oil used for fuel”
Piñón admits that the U.S. sanctions weigh on the “recapitalization” of the Cuban system, but denies that they are the main cause of the SEN’s deterioration. “There are several projects that Cuba could not complete, such as a wind farm in La Herradura, Las Tunas, a project 100% financed by China. Another example is Ciro Redondo, a biomass plant that cost 186 million dollars, also financed by China, to generate 62 MW, which is inactive due to the lack of sugarcane biomass,” he states.
Other foreign actors cited by the specialist are the companies Total (France) and Siemens (Germany), which in 2018 were considering the construction of a power plant in Cuba with natural gas, without success. “It was going to take three to five years and there was no money to build it, nor financing,” he says, recalling that neither the Cubans with their pesos, nor the bankrupt State can pay, nor are there international organizations that can or want to loan money to the Island. “As you can see, the only thing is for the Russians and the Chinese to give Cuba new power generation plants. I don’t envision a solution in the short term,” he admits.
Piñón also refers to the contribution of China with solar energy, which, in his opinion, cannot be the only solution, especially with the small installations, which generate only 21 MW each. “I support renewable energies, such as solar, wind and biomass that this plan includes, but you can’t put all the eggs in one basket,” he says. The lack of batteries, which do not store the energy generated, is a burden at the moment, he adds, and gives as an example a park that has just been built in Texas – where he lives – by a French company that provides 720 MW with 225 MW storage.
The expert is also very skeptical about the support of China and Russia and believes that, beyond political support, in practice it is not the Island that interests Beijing and Moscow. “Cuba is like a chess pawn, a small piece. For Russia and China, Venezuela and Guyana are more important. They want to show their political support for Cuba, but not an economic support that guarantees a long-term income,” he argues.
“Cuba is like a chess pawn, a small piece. For Russia and China, Venezuela and Guyana are more important. They want to show their political support for Cuba, but not an economic support that guarantees a long-term income”
Among the errors of the Cuban strategy, Piñón points out again and again, is that the national oil is a hindrance. Distributed generation, which he describes as a “carbon copy of the thermoelectric plants,” requires very expensive maintenance, which Cuba cannot afford, as happened with the floating power plants from Turkey. “The Island leased all the equipment but also had to supply the fuel, and since it did not have cash available to pay the rent, only two remain out of the eight that they originally had. The others have gone to Ecuador, Guyana and the Dominican Republic.”
In the midst of this desolate panorama and the certainty that solving the problem of the moribund thermoelectric plants requires years and huge amounts of money that do not exist – “starting from the generation of 60% energy with plants using 100% natural gas, which would require between $8 billion and $10 billion and three to five years of work” – the expert is blunt.
“We applaud the target of 37% renewable energy, but what about the rest? It should be liquefied natural gas, following in the footsteps of the Dominican Republic, Puerto Rico and Panama. Liquefied natural gas can be brought from Trinidad and Tobago, from a future Venezuela, from Angola, from countless markets, to supply the thermoelectric plants instead of using oil with high sulphur content,” he concludes.
Translated by Regina Anavy
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