In Cocodrilo -coastal community of Isla de la Juventud- the use of Renewable Energy Sources (FRE) will be extended, thanks to a project that, in support of Local Development, implements the University of Sancti Spiritus "Jose Marti Perez".
Antonio Figueredo Matos, specialist of the Electric company in the special municipality, pointed out that the initiative is based on the installation of an autonomous photovoltaic system that, together with the operation of a small forest biomass plant or gasifier, would bring the use of fossil fuel to almost zero in that southern town.
The engineer specified that in this scenario the Electricity Union was designated a key actor and signatory of the project, due to its experience in the electrification of rural homes, now with an environmentally friendly alternative, which improves the energy supply in this type of enclave isolated.
Cocodrilo is the furthest point from the capital city, and because it is not connected to the local electrical energy system, it has - to serve its 110 homes, 352 inhabitants and five more state entities - a battery of three 100 kilovolt (kV) generators. ), that work with diesel (expensive fuel in the world market), which in rotation of 12 hours each, maintain the vitality of the generation all day, he explained.
He also added that the gasifier that works there feeds another 75 kV Generator Set. As there is no identified wind or hydraulic potential in this community, the forest biomass resulting from the thinning will be used in the generation of electricity from the gasifier, once repaired and modernized, and solar energy when a park with 12 inverters and 903 photovoltaic panels, grouped into 51 tables, he said.
He said that the new project includes a storage system in 144 stationary batteries in order to ensure the operation of the photovoltaic during the day, while at night and early morning the aforementioned gasifier will assume it with an interruption of the electricity service of 12 minutes a day, to causes of the system change.
Under the project, the generator sets will not be initially replaced until they have completed their useful life.
The feasibility studies indicate that the total load of the Cocodrilo community is made up of the residential, the state, the water pumping and the battery charging process with a maximum peak of 186.34 kV, and in case of temporary breakdown the it expects the rest of the generation sources to take over the demand, as long as the problem is solved, specified Figueredo Matos.
He noted that among the social benefits of the project to install an autonomous photovoltaic system, whose area is microlocated, is the creation of new sources of employment for a community traditionally dependent on fishing and forestry activities.