A Calgary company has opened the door to “green energy” projects using Canadian-made technology in Cuba.
Suncurrent Industries Inc. plans to develop $1.45 million US in renewable energy sources on the island over the next three years.
The local firm has signed a formal agreement with EcoSol Solar, a Havana-based company whose mandate is to bring renewable energy to Cuba. At least five per cent of the Communist-controlled island’s residents, especially in rural and coastal regions, have no access to power.
Suncurrent recently completed the sale, installation and successful testing of two Saskatchewan-made wind-powered water pumping machines in Camaguey, the heart of Cuba’s cattle-ranching country.
“You don’t need a crane to assemble these pumpers,” says Geraldine Byrne, project manager for Mariah Energy Corp., a subsidiary of Suncurrent.
The wind-powered machines are ideal for Cuban agriculture, which doesn’t have access to high-tech equipment, she says.
Dutch Energies Ltd., in Pilot Butte, Sask., makes the pumpers. In Cuba, the 12-metre high machine is called La Brisa or The Breeze, while the 4-metre-high portable pumper is La Brisita or The Little Breeze.
There are an estimated 8,000 water wells in Cuba that have been abandoned because their pumps haven’t been replaced or upgraded since Russian expertise left the island, Bryne says. Much of the water in Cuba’s agricultural regions, even when it can be pumped, requires treatment before it can be used as household water.
Suncurrent decided to broaden its development efforts beyond the wind pumpers and, with EcoSol Solar, pursue an “eco-efficiency communities” initiative, Byrne says. “If we really want to look at a holistic approach to the community needs, why just bring in water pumpers if we’re not leaving water that’s clean for drinking?”
The Calgary company wants to bring a range of Canadian-made renewable energy technologies to 20 agricultural communities in three Cuban provinces — Las Tunas, Granma and Santiago de Cuba. Projects in the planning stage include water purification, wind and solar power, agricultural biomass energy and small environmentally friendly “run-of-river” hydroelectric.
Small power projects would provide sufficient electricity for each community’s school and medical centre, which are often in the same building, Byrne says. Many medical centres, for example, don’t even have a small refrigerator in which to store medications.
The project also would establish facilities in Cuba to manufacture wind-powered water pumpers for use on the island and export to Latin and South America.
Industry Canada has contributed funding towards the initiative and United Nations development program officials are supportive, Bryne says.
To get the project rolling, Suncurrent hopes early next year to tap into $100 million available through the federal government’s Climate Change Development Fund, established to encourage clean-energy technology transfer projects in developing countries.
