6-11-09, 10:46 am

HAVANA, Cuba, June 10 (acn) Wind and hydraulic energy could help Cuba generate an amount of electricity equivalent to the generating capacity of the nine thermoelectric power plants that exist in the country today.

According to a study by several Cuban institutions, including the Company of Engineering and Projects for Electricity (INEL), of this potential – 2,000 megawatts – nearly 1,200 megawatts would be obtained from the wind.

Guillermo Leiva, an expert with INEL, told ACN that some regions of the country, particularly in the northern coast of Central and Eastern Cuba, have an excellent generation capacity due to the frequency and stability of wind drafts there.

“Should the necessary investments be made, the country could save more than 806,000 tons of oil per year and it would also prevent some 1.9 million tons of carbon dioxide from being released into the atmosphere,” Leiva explained.

Data from the National Electricity Union shows that almost 35,000 people who live in remote areas as well as some 140 schools and 78 medical centers, among other social facilities, benefit from the electricity produced by the more than 180 hydroelectric plants that operate today in the country. According to this data, some 12,000 tons of oil have been saved in 2009 thanks to these hydraulic plants.

The eventual exhaustion of the existing reserves of fossil fuels, the protection of the environment and the current world economic crisis, are important incentives to use renewable energy sources.

This and other related topics will be discussed during the 6th International Conference on Renewable Energy and Energy Education that begins today and runs through Friday at the Convention Center in Havana.

From the Cuban News Agency