CBHE-CRECE Capacity Building for Renewable Energy Planning in Cuban Higher Education Institutions

Project number: 585894-EPP-1-2017-1-FI-EPPKA2-CBHE-SP
European call: ERASMUS+ Capacity Building in Higher Education
Duration: from 15 October 2017 to 14 October 2020
Total budget: 999,393.00 €

Partners

UVigo team

Ángel Manuel Sánchez
Project coordinator

Eva Garea Oya
Project technical coordinator

Jose Luis Salgueiro
Researcher

Project Description

Cuba has significant potential for harnessing renewable energy resources, such as solar, wind and biomass, and political and economic imperative to do so. In 2014, Cuba set a target of producing 24% of its electricity from renewable sources by 2030. The Cuban government wishes to invite foreign investors to boost renewable energy projects in order to reduce the country’s dependence on Venezuelan oil. Currently, renewable energy only accounts for 4 percent of production. The lack of financing and up-to-date expertise has remained the key bottleneck hindering transition. This is where the CRECE project comes in. It answers to an important need for cooperation and increased know-how. Cuba needs significant foreign investment both to finance renewable energy projects, and to improve its highly inefficient grid. In order to boost investor confidence, the CRECE project will supply a new generation of skilled workforce to fuel renewable energy development and create networking possibilities with EU countries already showing interest.

Objective

The project aims to contribute to the Cuban energy sector development via capacity enhancement in partner institutions by providing futures thinking and sustainable energy planning through training of trainers on innovative and participative teaching methods, sustainable energy engineering tools and approaches, research skills, and quality project management. Further, CRECE will establish and strengthen cooperation with critical actors in the sector for more integrated and holistic impacts. The project also engages stakeholders from ministries, civil society and the private sector for modernizing and enhancing relevance in energy education. The overall objective and specific objectives are in line with EU’s interests and polices in Cuba.

UVigo activities

1. Vigo Mobility Programme (from Monday 17 to Friday 21 June 2019)

The Cuban and Costa Rican partners have come to Vigo to attend a mobility including the following activities

1.A. Monday 17 June
Training on the e-learning platform by Arturo Casar, Head of the tele-education service at UVigo.

1.B. Tuesday 18 June
Visit to the new Lagares Wastewater Treatment Plant (WWTP) in Vigo. The new WWTP has an inflow capacity of up to 12 m³/s and can treat the pollution load of a population equivalent of up to 800,000 (time horizon 2042). In addition, the new Vigo WWTP is now Spain’s largest facility implementing biofiltration technology and amongst the largest in Europe.

Learning about automated recording by Vicente Goyanes, Coordinator of Multimedia Services at the University of Vigo.

1.C. Wednesday 19 June
Visit to the Integrated Control Center of the Velle Valley (CCI), the most innovative in Europe, which allows centralized and remote management from Ourense of all Naturgy´s power stations and dams in Spain. The SCADA system will replace and merge two independent Spectrum 4.5.1 systems into one system to allow centralized control, operation and maintenance of all hydro generation assets in Spain.

Peares Dam and Hydroelectric Power Station on the Miño River. Construction began in 1947 and was completed in 1955. This infrastructure is located on the Miño river, very close to its confluence with the Sil. It occupies an area of 535 ha and has 159.1 MW installed in 3 groups, although there is an approved expansion project of two more groups.

1.D. Thursday 20 June
Trip to the Sogama composting plant in Areosa (Cerceda, A Coruña). The plant, which required an investment of €2.5 million and has a capacity of 15,000 tonnes per annum, is an excellent example of the circular economy. Its function is to close the loop for organic waste selectively collected in the municipalities that choose to use its services, thereby contributing to higher recycling rates in Galicia.

1.E. Friday 21 June
The last day the team visited the Experimental Wind Power Station in Sotavento. Sotavento Galicia, S.A. was established in 1997 and promoted by the Government of Galicia. This partnership created the Sotavento Experimental Wind Farm, a unique facility that, besides having common business objectives such as projects, should make additional efforts focused on three areas: investigation, education-information and training.

2. Project board meeting and training schedule (January 2019)

Ángel Manuel Sánchez and Jose Luis Salgueiro, visited Cuba for 13 days in January for different training, seminar, and meeting purposes.

9 – 10 January 2019 at Moa, Cuba
11 – 12 January 2019 at Santiago de Cuba, Cuba
16 – 17 January 2019 at La Habana, Cuba

3. Mobility to Costa Rica

1 – 7 October 2018 at Costa Rica
Ángel Sánchez Bermúdez, coordinator of the CBHE-CRECE at the Universidade de Vigo, has participated from the 1 to the 6 th October 2018 in the meeting and mobility of CBHE-CRECE project in Costa Rica.

4. First Kick off Meeting

16 – 19 January 2018 at La Habana, Cuba
The official kick-off seminar was held at the UNE premises. Two members of the Vigo HEEMS team have travelled to La Habana for attending to the meeting.