- Cuban households adopt charcoal stoves and makeshift electronics amid daily blackouts
- Government reports 40% energy deficit despite international solar initiatives
- Families invest in partial solar solutions lacking battery storage capabilities
- Experts estimate $8 billion needed to modernize crumbling power infrastructure
As Cuba grapples with its worst energy crisis in decades, families like Marylín Álvarez’s have transformed survival into an art form. The cosmetologist’s household in Havana’s Bahía neighborhood exemplifies the island’s new reality: four nationwide power failures since late 2023 and daily outages lasting up to 18 hours. President Miguel Díaz-Canel recently disclosed a widening energy gap, with electricity demand surging 18% this spring while generation capacity only grew 6%.
Álvarez’s family progression from gas stoves to electric burners and finally charcoal cooking mirrors Cuba’s escalating challenges. Her husband Ángel Rodríguez engineered a blackout-resistant television using an electric motorcycle battery and repurposed laptop screen – a solution providing brief respite through telenovelas. Such innovations underscore what University of Texas energy researcher Jorge Piñón calls the great Cuban energy paradox– a population outpacing government solutions through grassroots ingenuity.
On Havana’s outskirts, blacksmith Edinector Vázquez fuels this informal economy by crafting $18 charcoal stoves from scrap metal. Though priced at a state worker’s monthly wage, his discounted units help neighbors bypass collapsed cooking systems. More affluent residents like Natividad Hernández install solar panels, though lacking batteries limits their use to daylight hours. These partial solutions reveal systemic issues: Cuba’s grid requires triple its current $1.9 billion annual maintenance budget to meet basic needs.
The crisis exposes infrastructure vulnerabilities compounded by U.S. sanctions and failed state policies. While officials promote upcoming solar parks with Chinese partners, families already endure triple threats: summer heat spiking appliance use, hurricane season jeopardizing fragile grids, and chronic gas shortages forcing dangerous cooking alternatives. Online markets overflow with unattainable $150 rechargeable fans and lamps, pushing Cubans toward riskier homemade electrical setups.
Piñón’s $8 billion modernization estimate seems distant as families ration last-resort solutions. Rodríguez admits his cobbled-together television system might soon fail, echoing national anxieties. We’re becoming energy MacGyvers,Álvarez remarks, stirring charcoal under a pot of rice. With experts predicting 3-5 years until measurable improvements, Cuba’s energy crisis remains a race between collective creativity and collapsing systems.
