Santa Clara’s newest solar-powered “solinera” is drawing residents who say the ability to recharge electronics and vehicles is becoming a practical workaround for Cuba’s day-to-day power and fuel problems. The free station, which opened in early April and is supplied by solar panels and batteries, has become a place where people bring everything from electric vehicles and small appliances to phones and cooking-related equipment. In a country where blackouts are chronic and gasoline supplies are limited, the charging station is also easing how far some residents can travel and what they can carry for work.
Yudelaimys Barrero Muñoz, a mother who travels from Cienfuegos to Santa Clara to buy supplies to resell, said the station has changed her routine. Before it opened, she said she spent up to three hours on the side of a highway in the heat trying to hitch rides from Cienfuegos to Santa Clara, where she stocks up for her husband and children. She described that her 43-mile trip was difficult to complete even with a bicycle and later, after switching to a rechargeable three-wheeled vehicle, because the vehicle’s battery was not sufficient for the round trip.
Barrero Muñoz said that after a local business owner opened what is believed to be Cuba’s first solar-powered charging station, “it was free,” and “they flocked to the solar station” to recharge a wide range of items. She said she now drives regularly to Santa Clara with her family because she can recharge her three-wheeled vehicle at the solinera. “If it hadn’t been for this, I wouldn’t have been able to keep selling,” she said. She also said she can buy more inventory because the items can be loaded into the vehicle rather than the two bags and a backpack she used when she had to hitch rides.
Danailys Arboláez Pérez, a 32-year-old mother who sells sandwiches, coffee, beer and cigarettes out of her home, said most people in her neighborhood go to the solinera. She said she has used the station to recharge items even when she has electricity, in part to save on natural gas, and she also described cooking with help from the station during shortages. Arboláez Pérez said the outages last year were “apocalyptic,” and she said the station now lets her recharge two fans used to cool her children’s rooms as temperatures rise. She described the relief of not having to rush to prepare meals or household tasks when power suddenly returns at late hours, adding, “We’re not running around so much.”
The station’s owner and backers provided technical details about the system’s capacity and design. Alexander Gutiérrez Altuve, who works at the business next door that helped finance and set up the solar station, said it was built in partnership with the government to install solar panels that provide 30 kilowatts of energy and a battery of 60 kilowatts. He said the battery level is enough energy to power the average U.S. home for a single day, and he said the station includes 20 sockets to charge equipment, 16 spots to charge vehicles and 12 for cooking. “This is something that hadn’t really been done before,” Gutiérrez Altuve said.
Gutiérrez Altuve and his co-worker Lisandra Couto Pérez said some residents hesitate to use the station at first, largely because they have trouble believing it is free. “They are truly surprised when you tell them that it’s free,” Couto Pérez said as she helped track usage. On a recent afternoon described by the Associated Press, Lorenzo Ravelo drove his three-wheeled vehicle into the station, plugged it in, and rode in with his wife and children. Ravelo said that when he owned only a bicycle, he had to borrow money from neighbors to rent a car for medical needs and described how the solinera has made travel easier for his family, including trips they can now make to the beach.
Cuba’s push for renewable power has continued alongside efforts to manage frequent blackouts and energy shortages. The Cuban government has stepped up solar panel installations in hospitals and other public places, and it has established solar farms, the Associated Press reported, in response to chronic power cuts and a severe gas shortage that authorities link to a U.S. energy blockade. The report said renewable energy now accounts for some 10% of the island’s electricity, up from 3.6% in 2024, though distribution remains limited and few people can afford the systems that produce and store power.