Granma International
July 6, 2001
By Lilliam Riera

All rural schools in remote mountainous areas have been provided with photovoltaic electricity systems or solar energy power and will be given at least one computer, as part of a project developed by the EcoSol Solar company, division of Copextel S.A., an independent entity affiliated with the Ministry of Informatics and Communications.

The company's general manager, Emir Madruga, spoke to Granma International about the project that will give the children living in these places the "same opportunities" to learn to use computers as those living in cities.

During the ceremony celebrating the completion of the electrification process carried out in the 1,944 rural schools in mountain areas in the western province of Pinar del Río, Fidel Castro confirmed that there is not a single province in the country that does not have a Computing Club for young people and added that at the beginning of the new academic year, all primary, secondary, and university centers will have their own computer laboratories.

Madruga commented that plans include the possible construction of several "mini video and television rooms" which would be analyzed to judge how effective they are as a "social solution," not just for "providing people with information and training them, but also as a form of entertainment."

For a number of years, EcoSol Solar has been selling and installing photovoltaic equipment and systems or panels (consisting of interconnecting cells that generate voltage when exposed to sunlight).

Madruga informed us that on June 14, they finished installing this system in the last of the 1,944 rural schools, and pointed out that the Communist Party of Cuba and the government is making a supreme effort to extend access to the audiovisual program to all Cubans.

In Pinar del Río, Fidel stressed that of these 1,944 schools, 159 have more than 40 pupils and 21 have just one each, but it was decided to include them all. "We haven't gone crazy," he said, "we have merely become more just."

On January 28 of last year, the anniversary José Martí's birth, the first two schools were provided with electricity as an experiment. They were the Ormani Arenado and Jesús Menéndez schools, both in San Cristóbal, Pinar del Río.

The schools currently have 165-peak-watt (PW) panels which guarantee up to five hours of energy sufficient to power a television (which consumes approximately 80 watts), a VCR (30 watts) and two lamps (15 watts each). The PW is a panel's capacity to generate energy at maximum solar radiation.

During the ceremony, Fidel explained that the number of educational centers with televisions and access to educational, recreational and information programs has risen to 13,191, including schools, day-care centers and Pioneer's facilities, and that 22,800 VCRs have been distributed.

It is necessary to point out that although the national electrical energy system -- which Madruga describes as the "true electrical backbone" and a social achievement of the Revolution -- covers almost 96% of the need, until recently electricity had not reached mountainous areas with low populations.

The general manager of EcoSol Solar stressed that countrywide, "there were just over 2,067 rural schools with no electricity," when efforts began to raise the general cultural level of the entire nation through the audiovisual program. This is how -- after analyzing the concrete possibilities for supplying them with electricity (through electrical energy systems or mini-hydroelectric plants, for example) -- these 1,944 were included in the electrification program through solar paneling.

In recent years the use of this kind of energy for social and economic ends has experienced a rapid increase in Cuba. According to the magazine Energía y tú, there are more than 1,000 photovoltaic solar installations in operation, these come in various sizes and vary according to what they are being used for.

Their use, particularly in remote areas, to guarantee small-scale services (doctor's offices, hospitals, social centers, schools) "has shown itself to be the best solution, both in terms of reliability, and medium- and long-term costs," explained the director, who said that "we have carried out more than 400 projects on the island which support that view."

On the world market, a photovoltaic system with all the necessary elements needed to install it, including the warrantee, maintenance and the equipment needed for consumption (household appliances or medical equipment) costs around $15 USD per installed watt or PW.

That is to say, a system based on a 165-PW capacity, like those installed in rural schools, would cost around $2,475 USD.

In comparison, the cost of extending electricity cables in mountain areas is between $7,000 and $12,500 USD per kilometer, including all materials and resources, and therefore even before the special period it was stipulated that such a project could only be authorized if it was going to benefit more than 25 people or an important economic objective.

Meanwhile, providing the service with diesel plants would involve -- apart from the initial investment -- a constant supply of fuel, lubricants and spare parts, as well as a quality operation and maintenance service.

Madruga stated that in the case of the rural schools the state has assumed all the expenses, which were minimal. This is in contrast to the family doctors' and nurses' offices in mountain areas, whose electrification was developed by EcoSol Solar based on financing from the Cuban non-governmental organization Cubasolar, through friends of the island and with the help of local health departments.

Copextel S.A. also received a great deal of help in the provinces from the Ministry of Education; Cubasolar; the Ministry of Science, Technology and the Environment; and from universities, schools and People's Power.

Under the supervision of EcoSol Solar -- responsible not only for the electrification but also its continual maintenance -- brigades were created and trained to help with the work completed last September.

The electrification of these rural schools has been "the prelude" to a series of new challenges, confirms Madruga, who added that "these systems are modular and so can be expanded, to continue to increase the amount of electricity provided to the schools."