Cuba begins erecting turbines at its largest wind farm
Turbines finally rose at Herradura 1, a 34-MW first phase that has lagged since 2012 and may only chip at Cuba’s blackout strain.
After more than a decade of starts, stops and missed deadlines, steel finally went up at Herradura 1. Cuba began erecting turbines at the wind farm in Las Tunas province, the island’s largest wind project ever attempted, turning a long-delayed promise into visible construction on the northern coast of Jesús Menéndez municipality.
The first phase is smaller than the original blueprint. State and local reporting says Herradura 1 will install 22 turbines capable of generating 34 megawatts at maximum output, rather than the 34 turbines and 51 megawatts that were originally planned. Officials have said the remaining 12 turbines could still be added later, but no schedule has been announced. That means the project now under construction will deliver roughly two-thirds of the power once promised, a meaningful addition for a strained grid, but not a cure for Cuba’s blackout crisis.
The project’s long history explains why the first tower matters so much. Herradura 1 was announced in 2012 as Cuba’s largest wind farm. In January 2018, EFE reported that the complex was expected to start operating by the end of that year, but that deadline came and went. By June 2024, Granma was still saying the Herradura I works had not been halted, a sign that the project remained unfinished even as years passed and the energy crisis deepened.
This week’s reporting from state media and the Ministry of Energy and Mines said the missing technical support and resources were now in place to install the turbines. That fits into a wider renewables push in Cuba, where officials are trying to cut dependence on imported fuels and ease pressure on a grid battered by shortages and repeated outages. The ministry has said Herradura 1 and Herradura 2 were designed for a combined 101 megawatts in Las Tunas, while a third wind farm, Río Seco in Holguín, is being prepared at 50 megawatts.
For now, Herradura 1 is less a finished solution than a test. If the turbines keep going up and the project reaches the grid, Cuba will have crossed a line it has been stuck behind since 2012. If the remaining equipment stalls again, the wind farm will join a familiar list of energy projects that promised relief long before they could deliver it.
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