SANCTI SPÍRITUS.— The Cuban Electric Enterprise in the province of Sancti Spíritus undertook a range of investments during 2016 with great economic and social impact, including those aimed at sustaining and increasing the food production in the territory.
According to Raidel Díaz Vega, director for Investments at the enterprise, works were completed at the Sur del Jíbaro Agro-industrial Grain Enterprise (EAIG), located in La Sierpe, the main enterprise of the province’s agricultural sector, as well as in El Maizal, a community located to the south of Sancti Spíritus.
He told ACN that both places benefited from the installation of unique banks of transformers for irrigation systems and the construction of primary distribution lines, as Sur del Jíbaro is one of the largest rice producers in Cuba and El Maizal is an area dedicated to producing several crops, including onions and tomatoes.
Díaz Vega noted that also completed in the EAIG were electrical installations for the automatic pumping of water from nine wells, which will allow the enterprise to take advantage of this natural underground resource to grow pulse crops, a necessity due to the intense drought and declining volumes of water in the Zaza reservoir, key to agriculture in the area.
He also highlighted the construction of a waste treatment system at the Sancti Spíritus Basic Electrical Organization, a necessity mandated by the provincial delegation of the Ministry of Science, Technology and Environment several years ago.
He noted that among the most significant investments is the first photovoltaic park in the territory connected to the national electrical grid, with an estimated generating capacity of 5.1 megawatt-hours per day, resulting in a reduction of 1,600 tons of carbon emissions into the atmosphere.
The director explained that 150 homes in remote and difficult to access areas are now receiving electrical power by means of 250 Watt solar panels.
