Jorge R. Piñon, senior research fellow at the Energy Institute of The University of Texas at Austin: “Cuba’s electric grid, the Servicio Eléctrico Nacional, faces far-reaching structural challenges that threaten the economic and social development of the island. Its base load thermoelectric and distributed generation infrastructure has collapsed due to its more than 40 years of operation and the lack of scheduled and capital maintenance. This baseload generation is fueled by high sulfur/metals fuel oil, which is highly corrosive, causing more damage to the already weakened infrastructure. It is a vicious maintenance cycle with no end in sight. A fuel switching strategy from oil to liquefied natural gas could play an important role in Cuba’s future energy mix. Cuba needs to fast track the decarbonization of its electric power generation while still providing reliable and cost-competitive power by investing in technologies that will make this possible. Renewables are still a very important…”