Welcome to summer!.

Today, June 20th is a special day for those of us in the northern hemisphere of the Earth. On this day we say goodbye to spring and welcome summer.

Today, June 20th is a special day for those of us who live in the northern hemisphere of the Earth. During this day we say goodbye to spring and welcome summer with its load of energy and warm colors.

The responsible for this advent is the summer solstice, an astronomical phenomenon that describes the greatest height that the Sun reaches above the horizon during midday, to give way to the longest day and the shortest night of the year. In this 2024 in several places in this part of the world will enjoy approximately 13 hours and 24 minutes of sunlight.

Solstice comes from the Latin solstitium, and means «still sun», apparent position of the sun that allows a greater use of natural light and thus reduce electricity consumption and the emission of greenhouse gases, which is produced by the generation from fossil fuels.

In the largest Antillean Island, for example, more than 95 percent of its electricity is produced by burning hydrocarbons, although to meet demand at peak times it is essential to use diesel, a much more expensive fuel.

However, solar radiation is so abundant here that, on average, about five kilowatt-hours per square meter reach the country’s land surface.

This is an indication that «Cuba is an eternal summer», not only because of the weather conditions, which are ideal for the development of recreational and sports programs on beaches and open areas.

In terms of renewable energy sources, one of the most advanced projects on the island is the solar photovoltaic management that responds to the strategy that by 2030 clean energy will represent 29 percent of the national energy matrix.

Until 2012, the installations totaled some 3 three MEGAWATT (MW) in low-power systems, not connected to the grid and located in schools, medical offices, homes and cultural centers, among other isolated establishments where the electric power grid does not reach.

In 2013, an important leap forward occurred with the installation of grid-connected photovoltaic solar parks. And if the expected increase is achieved in 2028 there will be 92 parks in Cuba with the capacity to generate two thousand MW of power.

In particular, Matanzas has the Cárdenas I and Cárdenas III photovoltaic parks, which have an installed capacity of 5.95 MW, and the construction of three other parks with a total capacity to generate 60 MW of power, 20 MW each, is under study.

With this infrastructure it will be possible to cover the equivalent of the consumption of some 33 thousand homes in Matanzas, achieve fuel savings equivalent to 86 tons and avoid the emission of 277 tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere.

And just as sunlight activates serotonin, known as the hormone of happiness, and in Eastern cultures the color of the sun is sacred, because of its resemblance to gold and prosperity; the large doses of energy, at no cost, that this star, which allows life on planet Earth, gives us daily, have a high economic and environmental value.

Written by Ana González Goicochea.