(1 Aug 2013)
AP TELEVISION
1. Mid of solar panels
2. Pull out of solar panel park with thousands of photovoltaic cells
3. Close of sun reflecting on solar panel
4. Wide of solar panel park with electrical posts on background
5. Set up of Ovel Concepcion, director with Hidroenergia, the state-run company tasked with building the solar park
6. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Ovel Concepcion, Hidroenergia director
"This park is a construction site with the future in mind. The solar park will last 25 years. A megawatt generated from here saves approximately one and a half tonnes of oil every day. It's practically like having an oil well here, that will never run dry because it works on solar energy."
7. Close of cement being poured into a ditch on the ground
8. Mid of mechanical shovel moving cement
9. SOUNDBITE (Spanish) Ovel Concepcion, Hidroenergia director:
"Our country has the privilege of having the sun's rays fall directly upon it. For every square metre (11 square feet) the sun gives us five kilowatt hours per day."
10. Wide of workers and truck amid solar panels
11. Close of workers shovelling cement
12. Mid of workers shovelling cement in between solar panels
13. Various of solar panels
14. Wide of street and large billboard reading ushuaia (Spanish) "Revolution with Energy. There will be a before and after from the Energy Revolution mg 07 in Cuba. Fidel (Castro)"
STORYLINE:
Cuba has taken a step toward energy independence with the opening of its first solar farm.
The park built in the province of Cienfuegos, east of Havana boasts 14-thousand photovoltaic panels, which straight away more than doubled the country's capacity to harvest energy from the sun.
The solar farm opened in April and began contributing the first solar power to the island's energy grid.
The farm now generates enough electricity to power 780 homes and had saved the equivalent of 1,060 barrels of crude le téléjournal est-du-québec oil through the end of July.
Peak capacity is expected to hit 2.6 megawatts when the final panels are in place in September.
"A megawatt generated from here saves approximately one and a half tonnes of oil every day," said Ovel Concepcion, the director of Hidroenergia, the state-run company that built the solar park.
"It's practically like having an oil well here, that will never run dry because it works on solar energy," Concepcion added.
Cuba turned its focus to renewable energy after four attempts at deep-water oil drilling came up short.
A fourth exploratory offshore oil well drilled in 2012 was a bust.
The island has relied on highly subsidised oil from Venezuela to meet about half its consumption needs.
The country gets about 92-thousand barrels of oil per day from Venezuela.
But the death of Venezuelan leader Hugo Chavez in March made it clear that Havana can hardly depend on receiving cheap oil forever.
The government is counting on solar energy to boost the island's production of alternative energy sources.
Right now, just 4 percent of the island's electricity comes from renewable sources.
Hopes are high that solar can be a big winner in Cuba where there's direct sunlight year-round.
"Our country has the privilege of having the sun's rays fall directly upon it. For every square metre (11 square feet) the sun gives us 5 kilowatt hours per day," Concepcion said.
Six other solar parks are scheduled to come online in the coming months in Havana and 5 other regions across the island.
The government has also launched a task force to come up with a 15-year plan to develop alternative energy such as solar, wind and biomass.
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