Users are also distrustful of the offer to connect individuals to the electrical grid so they can sell their excess renewable energy.
14ymedio, Madrid, September 11, 2026 – The private installation of solar panels has become a source of controversy. The second such controversy so far this year comes courtesy of Armando Rodríguez Batista, head of the Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment, despite the fact that his intention was precisely to call for calm. On Wednesday, the minister published an elaborate post on his Facebook account reminding people, in an educational manner, of the importance of complying with existing regulations for installing these devices.
For this purpose, he cited Dania González Couret, an architect and professor at the Technological University of Havana, as well as founder of the National Board of Directors of Cuba Solar. The specialist began by celebrating the opportunity presented by the mass installation of panels in cities. “I am happy because I have been saying for a long time that large photovoltaic parks on the outskirts of cities are taking land away from food cultivation. In cities there are roofs, lots of roofs,” she maintained. The expert added an extra reason: the devices contribute to the thermal insulation of buildings by creating a better layer that buffers the heat they receive.
Her words contained a piece of advice: to increase the panel’s efficiency, it is best to install it at an inclination angle of between 15 and 20 degrees. Vertical panels on walls work only at high latitudes, where the sun is very low, not here, in the tropics, where it is almost vertical. Only thin-film photovoltaic-cell technology, which is not what we use in Cuba — and which works with diffuse radiation — does not depend on orientation or position,” she instructed.
The catch came later, when she expressed concern about the number of improperly installed systems. “It is a business, and many people charge for it without having all the necessary knowledge. Things are being done badly,” González Couret warned.
The minister recalled that there are regulations that must be followed for safety reasons, bringing back the earlier controversy, which occurred in April of this year, when the National Institute of Territorial and Urban Planning announced the guidelines. The first step is to begin the process at the Physical Planning offices, which are responsible for forwarding the request to an architect so that the architect can prepare a technical project evaluating the load-bearing capacity of the property and the most appropriate location for the equipment. Once the documentation and approval are in hand, the institution has ten business days to issue the official authorization, which costs 68 pesos.
The regulations recognize roofs, terraces, patios, garages, and porches as areas where panels may be installed, provided they are private spaces and do not inconvenience neighbors. However, in the case of multifamily buildings, residents must give their approval, and space is more limited. In addition, the condition of the buildings complicates matters, since the panels could damage the waterproofing membranes on the roof, potentially causing leaks. The biggest problem, apart from bureaucracy and its slowness, is the cost of the architectural project, which can rise to 700 or 1,500 pesos. That is only one or two dollars on the informal currency market, but more than one-third of Cuba’s minimum wage.
That announcement generated a wave of criticism, but the installation of panels has continued to proliferate without generally following the rules, hence the minister’s insistence, with his message repeated by the official press. Rodríguez Batista insists that “a punitive approach” has not been applied and that those who already had installations outside the regulations have not been fined, but that it is important to inform those installing them now and “communicate the requirements in a unified manner so that people do not encounter fragmented criteria in different municipalities.”
He also ended the message on a positive note from González Couret, who praised the way people have learned to install the panels leaving space between them and the ground, which creates shade, allows the space to be used, and better protects the building from heat. “It is never too late if the outcome is good. What we should do is take advantage of it, do it properly, and follow up on it to perfect the practice, and not abandon it when the electricity supply situation improves,” she added.
But the population did not welcome the post favorably. Many demonstrated in their comments that they were unaware of the previous regulations and reacted vehemently to what they consider new obstacles to installations. “Please, it is every man for himself in practice, as declared by the same Government. And now they are promoting regulations whose only result will be obstacles and other forms of business and corruptible administrative permits. Don’t make things so difficult that people, who need to solve their own problem because the State does not, are prevented from doing so. What is being promoted here is nothing but regulating, regulating, and regulating, pure administrative bureaucracy to obstruct things,” complained one user. More than one person took to invoking, through a children’s song, the idea that their house’s patio is private “and so is the roof.”
But another grievance has been added to the main source of discontent. The minister took the opportunity to recall that the Government approved new incentives for those who sell their panels’ surplus electricity to the Unión Eléctrica, at 90 pesos for each kilowatt supplied, in addition to eliminating the income tax on earnings from these transactions. González Couret points out that most people who bought panels years ago connected them to the grid, a practice that has been abandoned because they would be left without power when the grid was disconnected. “That is why most people are doing it independently,” the expert acknowledges, while pointing to the drawbacks of this situation. “Independent systems are more expensive, require batteries whose life cycle raises environmental concerns, and do not allow the electrical grid to be used as storage.” For this reason, she hopes that if grid conditions improve, people will once again turn to panels connected to it.
“Independent systems are more expensive, but they give you freedom. No one with enough money to buy a photovoltaic system is going to wait five years or who knows how long for the SEN to recover,” one user comments. “You have to be crazy to invest in a solar system and connect to the SEN supposedly to sell the surplus when the System’s frequency is so unstable. Don’t even think about it,” adds another. Commenters on the publication of the news by Cubadebate have been even harsher. “Does Citma even exist?” “But how are they going to take into account the opinion of an entity whose disappearance was approved the other day?” they joked, referring to the Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment, whose dissolution was recently announced.
Translated by Regina Anavy
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