Cubans rendered powerless as outages persist and tensions with US escalate

72 pointsposted 10 hours ago
by petethomas
(apnews.com)

65 Comments

goda90

10 hours ago

This really illustrates how important it is to switch to renewable energy. I know it's not an easy task for impoverished communities to get the startup capital to install solar+batteries, especially one in such a politically tumultuous position, but that really is a path to stability for so many people around the world.

A YouTuber known for talking about dishwashers and Christmas lights recently put out a long rant about how ridiculous it is that humanity still leans so much on single use fuels: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KtQ9nt2ZeGM

rented_mule

8 hours ago

A fascinating takeaway from that video for me... If you take the US land that is dedicated to growing corn for ethanol that is put in gasoline, and replace all the corn on that land with solar panels, how much energy would it produce? Twice today's total electrical generation in the US, from all sources. And that's in the corn belt, which is far from ideal for solar. It would be billions of panels, but it's a pretty interesting perspective on the questions about the land use requirements of solar.

pfdietz

8 hours ago

It shows that bioenergy is very land inefficient.

There was a book about renewable energy in Britain about 17 years ago, "Sustainable Energy -- Without the Hot Air" that tried to make the argument that renewables could not power Britain, there wasn't enough land. But if you drilled down, this conclusion was due to use of biofuels.

nozzlegear

5 hours ago

Another genuine question: I wonder how that would change the climate in those areas. I live in Iowa and "corn sweat" is a thing that never fails to make several weeks of summer completely unbearable.

johng

8 hours ago

Genuine question: How much energy, minerals, transportation, manufacturing, etc, etc. goes into making the panels. How much are the panels going to make back percentage wise in it's lifetime vs. the cost to make and transport, install?

Corn kind of reproduces itself every year (If you don't get the GMO kind), so you only need natural resources to continue to grow it right? Water, sunlight and labor?

MrDrMcCoy

8 hours ago

He goes over that in the video. It's long, but very much worth watching.

tfyoung

8 hours ago

> Corn kind of reproduces itself every year (If you don't get the GMO kind), so you only need natural resources to continue to grow it right? Water, sunlight and labor?

At industrial scale, it has a huge petro-chemical fertiliser input.

pfdietz

8 hours ago

Total energy input to agriculture in the US is less than 2% of total energy consumption. So "huge" there has to be taken in context.

All the energy inputs to agriculture could be replaced with non-fossil inputs. Fertilizer in particular needs hydrogen to make ammonia, but that can be produced from non-fossil sources.

cosmic_cheese

10 hours ago

Extensive deployment of renewables and battery storage is perhaps the best thing that can be done anywhere (even in developed countries) for making the grid more robust. Not only is there no fuel supply to be cut off, targets become too diffuse and decentralized to take out quickly, especially if you can manage to cover 30-40% of cities with rooftop solar.

bryanlarsen

9 hours ago

You can hit a solar plant with a missile, and it can be back in operation with a reduced capacity within a week:

https://www.wanhossolars.com/news/ukrainian-solar-power-plan...

pixl97

8 hours ago

Honestly I'm not sure if it would take a week in most cases, just took this long in this case. Its really not worth going after the panels with a conventional missile. Maybe something that explodes well above it and litters it with ball bearings would be far more effective.

toomuchtodo

8 hours ago

If you know it’s coming, you can command the panels on single axis trackers to avoid damage. This is done today for hail and hurricane risk. Panels are also rated to withstand all but the most aggressive hail.

lokar

8 hours ago

I think of him as known for his thoughts on the “color” brown.

lstodd

9 hours ago

> At length I remembered the last resort of a great princess who, when told that the peasants had no bread, replied: "Then let them eat brioches."

buckle8017

9 hours ago

Much of the developing world is close enough to the equator that solar and batteries just have to last a few days.

In most developed countries solar is seasonal.

anonymars

9 hours ago

Solar is one type of renewable. The Nordics have done all right

https://www.nordicstatistics.org/news/the-5-large-nordic-cou...

buckle8017

8 hours ago

They have small populations and so many places to install dams they have their own words for it.

Nobody else can do that.

anonymars

5 hours ago

Yet their neighbor Denmark has similar penetration of renewables.

So what's the final destination of these goalposts then so we can just skip to the end?

lokar

7 hours ago

Peak efficiency is seasonal. Much of North America is perfectly suited for solar year round, at reduced efficiency.

propagandist

9 hours ago

It also illustrates the importance of not getting caught on the wrong side of the global hegemon right next door who can choke you out and prevent you from importing energy and integrating with the global economy.

A lot of food for thought all around.

mothballed

9 hours ago

That's definitely part of the equation, but the blockade has been over for a long while. They have suffered not only the brutal effect of US colonization/hegemony but also the brutal effect of the legacy of Castro's brand of economics. If they were just suffering one or the other, they'd be significantly better off.

Edit since I am throttled on posts and cannot reply below: The US briefly blockaded Cuba in the 60s, but they have only embargoed them since then. They are not blocked from international trade by the US, except with the US. There is no meaningful block from Cuba engaging in the greater international non-US "global economy" such as EU,Asia, etc.

neves

8 hours ago

You are wrong. Any company that wants to do business with USA must also join the embargo.

mothballed

8 hours ago

This is a bald-faced lie.

For instance, I can buy Malibu rum, no matter that Pernod Ricard does business with Cuba. Or flights in USA with Air France, no matter that they also do business in Havana. Or ZTE phones which are imported into both USA and Cuba from China (carrier limitations but only because USA government won't do business with ZTE associated businesses, not because they can't be sold in USA). Or Sinopec (oil) which does business in USA including a large investment of presence in Texas but also does business with Cuba.

Yes your blanket any is a lot more applicable if you said the truth which is any business that wants to do business with USA federal government which is much closer to the truth (but even then, Sinopec for instance has through its subsidiaries been allowed to bid on strategic oil reserve transactions no matter their ownership is a major trader with Cuba).

Cuba is actively trading with EU, Asian, etc companies that are also trading with USA.

user982

9 hours ago

> the blockade has been over for a long while.

What are you talking about?

bryanlarsen

9 hours ago

The embargo was partially lifted in 2015. The article is about the effects of the re-tightening in 2025.

user982

9 hours ago

> The embargo was partially lifted in 2015

And then reinstated in 2017. How has that been "over for a long while"?

nradov

8 hours ago

It also illustrates the importance of not wrecking your own economy through pursuing socialist policies and driving the most productive people out of the country.

lokar

8 hours ago

Is that your summary of the causes, goals and impacts of the Cuban revolution?

nradov

7 hours ago

Causes and goals, no. Impacts, yes. Regardless of intent, socialism inevitably destroys everything it touches.

lokar

7 hours ago

Or, a prolonged embargo, threats of invasion, actual attempts at invasion, diplomatic pressure to isolate, etc all by the most powerful empire in history on your doorstep destroyed everything.

It’s pretty hard to sort out after the fact.

nozzlegear

5 hours ago

That's just a longer way of saying socialism inevitably destroys everything it touches.

ofrzeta

5 hours ago

Is it? It's more like "you can't succeed with any political system if your powerful bullies dislike it". What do you think about Vietnam? Everything destroyed as well?

nozzlegear

4 hours ago

I don't think anything about Vietnam, I was just making a joke.

FpUser

7 hours ago

The way things are going it looks like late capitalism is on a way to eventually catch up. And all 2.5 "productive" people left would own the world and the rest will be cattle, potentially culled to keep things in check

NedF

6 hours ago

[dead]

D-Machine

9 hours ago

Cuba is dying and collapsing, with this kind of issue being just a part of a broader systemic set of causes. It is a serious tragedy and humanitarian crisis. If people aren't aware of how bad it is: they haven't had reliable food and electricity for a while now, even parts of Havana and other cities look eerily like a ghost town, and it seems as if almost anyone that is able to has been fleeing.

"Compared to the peak of 11.2 million inhabitants reached in 2012 – the year of the last census – Cuba has lost 13% of its population. [...] A quarter of the island's population is aged 60 and over, and it is the only demographic category that has grown in recent years"

https://www.lemonde.fr/en/international/article/2025/04/30/c...

einszwei

8 hours ago

The fact that percentage of older population increased is a dead giveaway that most young people are migrating (to US most likely) and more akin to exodus.

A very similar pattern to Venezuela which saw a similar exodus.

giancarlostoro

9 hours ago

I have a coworker from Cuba, her grandmother still lives there, this has been going on for about 2 years. She had sent her grandmother a power generator thinking she could just buy gas, but when it became apparent that they have gas shortages, she bought her grandmother a solar based one, this was several months ago if I remember correctly.

mperham

9 hours ago

The fossil fuel industry has stolen the bulk of Cuba’s income. Need to switch to solar and batteries to onshore your energy production. China could help here and get a big diplomatic win if they were to give Cuba subsidized access to their clean energy assets.

kyboren

8 hours ago

No, the shitty regime has stolen, squandered, and prevented the vast majority of Cuba's (potential) income.

They've received free oil from Venezuela, Mexico, and Russia for decades. This whole crisis is because the country is horribly mismanaged and the free ride is over.

Most countries have to purchase their oil at market prices. Cuba has been spared that burden yet is still worse off than the average country.

IIRC both Russia and China have demanded economic reforms which are not forthcoming. The Chinese aren't stupid and they don't seem too interested in pissing their money away indefinitely on a 'partner' who ignores them.

pessimizer

8 hours ago

The entire crisis is because the US has been abusing Cuba since Batista fell, don't get confused. The idea that Cuba is being coddled because it isn't paying market prices when the US has been excluding it from the market for your entire life and most of your parents' lives is sadistic and cynical.

You don't get to criticize the quality of someone's system until you take your foot off their neck.

pestatije

8 hours ago

yeah where is China when you need them?... something doesn't add up here, worried about how orangetan might react?

neves

8 hours ago

A friend of mine works at SAP, the major German software company. Because they do business with American firms, he had to complete required corporate training on U.S. government restrictions regarding certain countries. The restrictions had different tiers, with only two nations placed in the most severe category: Iran and the peaceful island of Cuba.

bpt3

8 hours ago

Your "friend" wasn't paying much attention because there are more than those two countries on the list, and you should ask the residents of Cuba exactly how peaceful their government is.

lokar

7 hours ago

More of less peaceful than Batista? To whom? And for whose benefit?

bpt3

7 hours ago

If you actually want a response, you probably should form questions as full sentences.

Atlas667

2 hours ago

This has been part of US plans for decades.

Sanctions are warcrimes and the US has been punishing civilians and causing their death and suffering since the 60s.

"...every possible means should be undertaken promptly to weaken the economic life of Cuba. If such a policy is adopted, it should be the result of a positive decision which would call forth a line of action which, while as adroit and inconspicuous as possible, makes the greatest inroads in denying money and supplies to Cuba, to decrease monetary and real wages, to bring about hunger, desperation and overthrow of government."

Secretary of State, USA, 1960.

Source: https://history.state.gov/historicaldocuments/frus1958-60v06...

standardUser

9 hours ago

I recall visiting Cuba during the second term of Obama (shortly after his visit) and seeing the various reforms that were taking place and feeling very optimistic about the island's future. We saw a lot of highly political art on display, ate at some of the first private restaurants, watched a helicopter explode overt the ocean as they were filming a Fast and Furious film, and went to a nightclub/art show event that rivaled anything I've been to in NYC.

In a sane world, we would be Cuba's largest trading partner and largest source of tourists. In that hypothetical world, the ongoing economic and cultural exchange would have propelled the island towards a different political system. Instead, we doubled down on an approach that has failed for 70+ years.

giancarlostoro

9 hours ago

In that same world we have Puerto Rico with a fragile power grid. I'm not sure what the best course of action is for Puerto Rico, I am from the Island, and there's just way too many issues on the island, the biggest thing I do know is that the old tax incentives made the island thrive drastically. There was a point in time where Puerto Rico was as high up in terms of production quality as Japan, above the US itself. A lot of pharmaceuticals come from Puerto Rico, so much so that hospitals in Florida have shortages if the Island loses power due to a major hurricane.

alisonatwork

8 hours ago

The power grid problems islands have is a really interesting topic. Just the other day I read an interview discussing Taiwan's energy situation[0] and even though I am familiar with the various factions and the surface level debate, it prompted me to think a bit deeper on the unique challenges islands have as marginalized geographic entities. I didn't grow up on an island so I'm not sure if people who do are more conscious of the precarity, but you'd think if they did then they would place even more emphasis on getting energy independence. It's one of those things that would be cool to study if I could go back in time and choose a different specialization...

[0] https://www.volts.wtf/p/taiwans-energy-dilemma

ok_dad

3 hours ago

I live on an island and my first priority after getting a full time job again is to buy solar and storage good for a few days of my homes usage. The cost of energy is increasing here and I don’t see it ever going down since we’re still using oil for the most part. I plan to build a little wood workshop shed in my yard and cover it with solar panels and put some batteries in it. I should only need about 30 kWh of storage to cover three days use, and maybe 2 or 3 kW of panels for daily use and recharging the batteries; except for the EV, which I normally charge once a week but I can just start plugging in during the day instead. With that setup I can keep connected to the grid and eventually see if I can go off grid after a few years, or possibly add more solar and storage later if I find the first phase wasn’t enough.

However, that’s only possible because I have money and knowledge; most people don’t have that and so as a whole we’re kind of screwed here. Costs will continue to rise while not enough renewables are installed, usually on individual homes which only helps those individuals.

logicx24

9 hours ago

> the ongoing economic and cultural exchange would have propelled the island towards a different political system

The blocker to this has always been the government refusing to reform. I don't see how increased exchange changes this. If anything, the Cuban government would've blocked any integration that threatens their control.

bpt3

8 hours ago

> we doubled down on an approach that has failed for 70+ years.

I assume by "we", you mean the Cuban leaders who have clung to power and their repressive ways against the best interests of the population?

xg15

8 hours ago

I think GP means the US sanctions. On that note, what bad thing would happen if the US simply lifted them?

bpt3

7 hours ago

A regime that has antagonized the US and mistreated its subjects for decades would obtain more resources.

xg15

2 hours ago

So... you punish a regime for mistreating its subjects - by mistreating its subjects even more?

pessimizer

7 hours ago

We'd run the risk that they'd be successful.

user

10 hours ago

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