Sixteen hotels Varadero and King’s Gardens are preparing to “optimize” their electricity consumption, at a time when part of the infrastructure in the eastern zone continues to be affected by the impact of Hurricane Melissa and in general the entire country suffers from prolonged blackouts.
This claim is based on the implementation of automated measurement systemswhich not only seek to monitor and reduce consumption in these tourist facilities, but also reduce their environmental footprint, according to the newspaper Granma.
The initiative is part of the International Sustainable Tourism Project, executed by the Cuban Environment Agency and supported by the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and the Global Environment Fund (GEF), according to the official media.
Alfredo Curbelo Alonso, principal researcher at Cubaenergía, explained that the installation of this equipment will allow hotels to improve their energy performance.
The project, applied in two of the main tourist centers of the island, contemplates the real-time monitoring of hotel electricity consumption through sensors, signal converters and a computer system. This is complemented by the data provided by four automatic weather stations in strategic hotels in Varadero and Jardines del Rey.
This information will facilitate planning and decision making to reduce energy expenditure and promote the use of clean sourcesincluding solar water heating systems.
Refers Granma that a group of specialists guided tourism workers “for better management of this technology,” while other experts “accompany hotel staff in the preparation of documents for the certification process of the Cuban standard that governs energy management.”
Electrical recovery advances in the eastern zone, but blackouts increase throughout the country
Energy crisis vs. electricity for tourism
The adoption of these technologies in hotel facilities occurs in a scenario of serious and sustained energy crisis on the islandaggravated by the obsolescence and repeated breakdowns of thermoelectric plants and the lack of fuel.
In this context, Cubans have been suffering in recent years from prolonged blackouts, which exceed 20 hours a day in many locations, while in the last year the country has suffered five national disconnections, after which the entire island has been left in darkness.
However, despite the decline in tourism in Cuba, hotels and other facilities in the sector are prioritized for the delivery of electricity or have their own energy sources, which keeps them illuminated and with high consumption while a large part of the population is in the dark.
This, in turn, generates numerous criticisms and questions from Cubans, who have also staged protests against the blackouts in different areas of the country.
He cuban government attributes the worsening of the situation to the United States sanctions and carries out a program for the “recovery” of the electrical system with emphasis on solar energy, although it recognizes thermoelectric plants as the basis of generation on the island.
For their part, independent experts estimate that a comprehensive recovery of said system would require between 8 billion and 10 billion dollars, a figure that exceeds the country’s financial capacity.
