Off the wire
• Costa Rica reports first endemic case of Zika  • Feature: Bangladeshi book fair highlights love of printed books in digital era  • Knights, damsels, Vikings set to recreate Middle Ages in Mexico  • Myanmar bans visit to Bagan ancient pagodas for conservation  • Roundup: U.S., Russia announce Syria ceasefire plan, questions unresolved  • China treasury bond futures open mixed Tuesday  • China Hushen 300 index futures open lower Tuesday  • Market exchange rates in China -- Feb. 23  • Chinese shares open mixed Tuesday  • Chinese yuan drops to 6.5273 against USD Tuesday  
You are here: 　 Home

Russia grants credit to support increasing electricity generation in Cuba

Xinhua, February 23, 2016 Adjust font size:

Russia granted Cuba a loan of over 1.3 billion U.S. dollars to increase its power grid by 800 megawatts between 2022 and 2024, an official of the National Electrical Union (UNE) said Monday.

Edier Guzman, the UNE's development director of power plants, said the project was signed in October 2015 by the Russian company Inter RAO and Cuba's Energoimport. This plan will come into effect in April this year.

The purpose is to build four new 200-megawatt power plants, one in Mariel and the other three in east Havana.

The fuel saved by the new generating units will be exported, and the revenues will be used to pay the Russian loan, added Guzman.

Cuba produces 4 million tons of oil and gas annually, which however only meets 40 percent of the country's need. The rest is provided by the island's political and economic ally, Venezuela, under preferential terms.

The government is seeking to increase oil production while boosting the share of renewable energy generation to 24 percent by 2030. Endi