Radio Havana Cuba's Science and Technology Program:
BREAKTHROUGHFor broadcast Sunday, November 21 and Thursday, November 25 1999
Written and narrated by Arnaldo "Arnie" Coro, RHC's Science Editor
Sound: BK theme, fades to:
Coro: Hello, welcome to another edition of Breakthrough, Radio Havana Cuba's Science, Technology and the Environment update. I am Arnaldo, Arnie Coro, RHC's science editor and today, I will tell you about a cuban municipality efforts to be the first in the nation to supply all its electricity needs from renewable energy sources.... The name of that municipality is GUAMA, an indian name, it is located in eastern Cuba, and so far has installed seventeen hydroelectric power stations that are providing about 30 percent of the population with electricity. The latest addition to Guama's municipality efforts to provide renewable energy is the 93 kilowatts minihydro station at La Cachimba de Rio Grande.
This installation was almost complete a number of years ago, but when the special period of the cuban economy started at the beginning of the nineties, the project came to a halt due to the lack of supplies. This past week the generator started spinning powered by the water falling from a mountain stream that was harnessed for the purpose. Some three hundred meters, or about three city blocks of steel pipes had to be installed to feed the turbine. Now the La Cachimba mini hydro electric power station is generating at near full capacity, providing electricity to some 30 families of that community.
Recent torrential rains have increased the flow of all the mountain streams, but have also caused problems due to the many foreign objects that are washed by the high speed water descending from the mountains. This requires continuous monitoring of the water filters and scrubbers, in order to keep Guama's now 18 hydroelectric power stations working.
Other parts of the eastern Cuba municipality are using solar and wind power. Among the solar powered installations are several family doctor's offices and small hospitals, as well as coffee bean grading plants, and, of course many homes. Solar power, combined with wind power, offers many possibilities for mountainous regions of Eastern Cuba, because whenever the weather is bad and cloudy, wind usually blows at higher speeds, so a combination of solar and wind power increases reliability, especially when the solar panels and wind generators are connected to high capacity storage batteries, which are so far the main limiting factor due to their high cost.
Nothing can beat small hydro power plants for simplicity and reliability... and although they may cost more to install, it is also true that they offer more watts per amount of money spent in the overall project. Guama's municipality long term goal of achieving the complete renewable energy supply will probably take some more time, but the fact is that what they have already done there is certainly to be followed by other mountainous regions of the island.
SOUND: Theme
CORO: And that was Breakthrough for today... the news about completion of Guama's municipality number 18 minihydroelectric power plant, providing 30 families with electricity 24 hours a day...From Havana, I am Arnaldo, Arnie Coro, RHC,s science editor together with my sound engineer Jose Costa Pupo inviting you to join us next week at the same time and short wave frequency for another edition of Breakthrough...
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"Breakthrough"
Radio Havana Cuba
PO Box 6240, Havana, CUBA 10600
Via e-mail: arnie@radiohc.org
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