• General State of the Economy
• Energy Resources
• Energy Balance
• Energy Infrastructure
• Education and Innovation
• Ecology and Environment Protection
• References

Source: [1,2,3,4,5]

Nevertheless, for such indices as the level of GDP and reserves of foreign exchange and gold (72^nd place in the world), Cuba's indicators are higher than the world average, or close to them.
Between 1995 and 2014, the country experienced steady growth in GDP at purchasing power parity [4]. In 2017, this indicator was at the level of $ 137 billion (78^th in the world) [3]. GDP at purchasing power parity per capita is significantly lower (122^th in 2016), which has also been demonstrating positive dynamics: from $12 100 in 2014 and $12 300 in 2016 [5,3].
The inflation level in the country was 5.5% in 2017, which is somewhat higher, compared with 4.5% in 2016 [3].
According to the Index of Economic Freedom, which is based on freedom of business, freedom from government action, property protection, and freedom from corruption, Cuba was 176^th in 2021, out of the 178 countries considered. According to the indicator for the average GDP growth in percentage over the last 10 years, in 2020 the country was 113^th out of 206 countries. In terms of public debt, calculated as a percentage of the country's GDP, Cuba was ranked 110^th out of 210 countries considered in 2017.

Cuba does not have significant reserves of fossil resources (Table 1), and mainly relies on imports to meet domestic energy demand. Nevertheless, Cuban offshore oil and gas fields are very promising. However, their development is complicated by US embargoes, low oil prices, and technical difficulties associated with extraction from these fields [5].

Table 1. Fossil energy resources of Cuba

In terms of tons of oil equivalent, in 2021 proved reserves of conventional hydrocarbons in Cuba were: gas - 79%, oil - 21% (Fig.5).
Proved oil reserves in Cuba, according to [3], as of 2021, were estimated at 124 million barrels, and the proven reserves of natural gas were estimated at 70.79 billion m³ in 2021.
Moreover, the proven reserves of oil and natural gas have declined significantly since the beginning of this century.
Cuba has high potential for the development of clean energy production. A selection of basic indicators of this type of resource is presented in Table 2.

Table 2. Renewable energy resources of Cuba

* for the majority of the territory of the country
** gross theoretical capability

The level of global horizontal irradiation throughout the country has a value of 4.9-5.7 kWh/m²/day [7]. The maximum level of solar radiation of 5.7-7.0 kWh/m²/day can be observed in the south, along the Caribbean Sea, as well as in the southeastern part of the country and in the province of Guantanamo. The distribution of wind resources is as follows: for the majority of the country the wind speed is 5.0-6.0 m/sec [8]. The peak of wind activity is observed in the southeastern part of the country and in the province of Guantanamo and the coast of the Caribbean Sea, where the wind speed can exceed 7.0 m/sec (at a height of 90 m) [8]. About 61.7% of Cuba is covered by agricultural land, and 31.2% is forested [9,10].
Cuba does not have a dense river network. Gross theoretical hydropower potential of the country is 7 GWh/year [11]. Potential for the use of ocean energy and sea wave energy in the south of the country can reach 15 kW/m [12].
This energy review of Cuba would not be complete without mentioning municipal waste (0.67 kg per capita per day), which on the one hand are valuable raw materials for secondary use or energy production, and on the other hand, long-term decomposing substances that substantially pollute the natural environment [13].

Source: U.S. Energy Information Administration (Dec 2022) / https://www.eia.gov

Figure 2. The production and consumption of fossil fuels in Cuba (coal – left, gas – in the center, oil – right)

Consumption corresponded to production up until 2010, when consumption decreased, and in 2021 amounted to 688.5 million m³ [15]. According to the U.S. Energy Information Administration, both gas production and consumption in Cuba in 2021 was 32 Bcf [14].
Coal consumption in Cuba has twice shown a sharp decline, in 2006 and in 2014. In 2016 the country practically stopped producing it [6] and the imports of this resource amounted to 2.2 thousand tons in 2020 [15].
Historically, Cuba has a high share of fossil fuels in electricity production (Fig. 3).
In 2021 Cuba produced about 19.75 TWh of electricity, of which 95.2% was by fossil fuels, 0.6%, by hydro power, 4.2% by other renewable sources (Fig.6).

Cuba’s position in the comparative diagram of energy index is shown in Figure 4. Indices based on oil and gas reserves are at the bottom of the chart. However, in terms of production-consumption of natural gas ratio, the country demonstrates results higher than the world average.

A territorial map of the distribution of the largest infrastructure projects of the fossil-fuel sector in Cuba is shown in Figure 5. As mentioned previously, gas reserves account for 79% and oil reserves account for 21% of the energy potential of fossil resources. The main oil and gas fields are concentrated in the north of the country (Fig.5).
The largest oil field in Cuba is Varadero, located 125 km from Havana. According to the experts from Cupet, this field has a potential of 11.3 billion barrels [16]. The oil pipeline 230 km long connects the fields with the refineries close to Havana. The total length of the gas pipeline is 41 km [3].
Cupet operates four oil refineries with a total installed capacity of over 120 000 barrels/day (Fig. 5), the largest of which is Cienfuegos Oil Refinery (65 000 barrels/day) [17]. The most important oil storage facility, Matanzas, is located in the north, in close proximity to the fields and has a capacity of 1.8 million barrels [18].

Figure 5. Basic infrastructure facilities of the fossil fuel sector in Cuba

The main oil terminals are located in the area of the capital and Cienfuegos.
The map of the territorial distribution of the largest infrastructure objects of electricity production is shown in Fig. 6. According to [15], the total installed capacity of the Cuban energy complex in 2018 was about 6.661 GW.
The share of fossil fuels in electricity production in the country prevails, and in 2021 amounted to about 95.2%, with about 0.6% of hydropower, 4.2% of other renewable energy sources (Fig. 6).

Figure 6. Electricity production in Cuba

In the first case, electricity is produced mainly from hydrocarbon raw materials. There are 8 large oil power plants with a capacity of more than 100 MW, 2 large gas power plants with a capacity of more than 100 MW (Fig. 6).
The leading oil power plant is 10 de Octubre, with a capacity of 503 MW, and the largest gas plant is Boca de Jaruco, with a capacity of 238 MW [19,20]. In 2021, around 119.7 GWh of electricity was generated by means of hydropower, the total installed capacity of hydropower in the county amounted to 64.6 MW [15]. The largest hydropower plant is Hanabanilla Hydro power plant, with a capacity of 43 MW [21]. In Figure 7, you can see the main facilities of the Cuban infrastructure for the production of energy from renewable sources.
As noted above, renewable energy in Cuba, excluding hydropower, does not have a decisive influence on electricity generation. Thus, the total electricity production from renewable sources in 2020, excluding hydropower, was 0.74 TWh (see sources in Fig. 7).

Figure 7. Renewable energy in Cuba

According to IRENA in the field of electricity generation in 2020, the leader was bioenergy – 65.3%, solar energy – 18.1%, hydropower was 13.4%, wind energy – 3.2% (see sources in Fig. 7).
Bioenergy is actively developing in Cuba, mainly because of the abundance of sugar plantations. In 2017, 16 million tons of cane were produced by 57 sugar processing enterprises (see sources in Fig. 7). Arzuba owns the largest enterprises of this type – Uruguay Sugar Refining Mill, with an installed capacity of 13 800 tons/day [22]. Cuban bio-engineers successfully apply modern technologies for the production of biodiesel at Guantanamo biodiesel plant that produces about 100 tons of fuel annually [23].
The maximum level of solar radiation can reach 6.0 kWh/m² per day, and the level of wind activity is 7.0 m/s, which is the richest resource for energy production [7,8]. Due to this, there are about 9 164 photovoltaic systems in Cuba that provide energy for schools and hospitals. However, the high cost of installing photovoltaic panels at the initial stage hinders the development of this type of power in Cuba (Fig. 7). The largest solar power plant is Cantarrana with an installed capacity of 2.6 MW, and the largest Wind Farm is Gibara, with a capacity of 9.6 MW [24,25].
One of the main aims of the energy program until 2030 is to increase the share of renewable energy to 24%, at the moment it does not exceed 4.3%. To achieve this goal, the country will need an investment of about $ 600 million. To this end the Raul Castro government has opened this energy sector for foreign capital [26]. Within the framework of this program, construction of seven wind parks with a total capacity of 750 MW, together with the Spanish company Gamesa, as well as equipping residential buildings and municipal facilities with 133 000 solar water heaters is envisaged [27].

According to forest area as a percentage of land area, Cuba is not among the world leaders, however, the trend associated with its change looks very positive. In this rating, the country is at 14^th place out of 234 countries surveyed, conceding only Chile in the region, which indicates the rational use of this resource.
Cuba also has a relatively high valuation of the Environmental Performance Index rankings (EPI), which focuses primarily on assessing the environmental performance of national governments. In this rating in 2020 Cuba is 64^th out of 180 countries and demonstrates a positive trend.
According to the Environmental Vulnerability Index, which is based on years of observations and 50 indicators, which include for example, changing climatic characteristics or the quality of water resources, waste volumes, oil spills and other hazardous substances, etc. Cuba is 157^th, and is characterized as "highly vulnerable". Cuba also belongs to a group of countries with very high levels of methane emissions. According to the Ecological Footprint Atlas rating, Cuba is among the environmental debtors.

[1] List of sovereign states and dependencies by area / Wikipedia / https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_sovereign_states_and_dependencies_by_area
[2] List of countries and dependencies by population density / Wikipedia / https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_countries_and_dependencies_by_population_density
[3] Cuba / The world factbook / Library / Central Intelligence Agency / https://www.cia.gov/
[4] GDP, PPP (constant 2011 international $) / World Bank, International Comparison Program database. License: CC BY-4.0 / Data / The World Bank / http://www.worldbank.org/
[5] GDP per capita, PPP (current international $)/ World Bank, International Comparison Program database. License: CC BY-4.0 / Data / The World Bank / http://www.worldbank.org/
[6] Cuba / U.S. Energy Information Administration (July 2016) / http://www.eia.gov/
[7] Solar resource data obtained from the Global Solar Atlas, owned by the World Bank Group and provided by Solargis / Global Solar Athlas / http://globalsolaratlas.info/
[8] Wind Map / Global Wind Atlas 2.0, a free, web-based application developed, owned and operated by the Technical University of Denmark (DTU) in partnership with the World Bank Group, utilizing data provided by Vortex, with funding provided by the Energy Sector Management Assistance Program (ESMAP). For additional information: https://globalwindatlas.info
[9] Agricultural land (% of land area) / Food and Agriculture Organization, electronic files and web site. License: CC BY-4.0 / Data / The World Bank / http://www.worldbank.org
[10] Forest area (% of land area) /Food and Agriculture Organization, electronic files and web site. License: CC BY-4.0 / Data / The World Bank / http://www.worldbank.org/
[11] 2013 Survey of Energy Resources (PDF) / World Energy Council / www.worldenergy.org/
[12] Wave power / Wikipedia / https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Wave_power
[13] What a Waste 2.0 (PDF)  / The World Bank / http://www.worldbank.org/
[14] International Energy Statistic / Geography / U.S. Energy Information Administration (Dec 2022) /http://www.eia.gov/beta/international/
[15] Anuario Estadistico de Cuba 2021 (Statistical Yearbook of Cuba) / Oficina Nacional de Estadisticas, Cuba / http://www.one.cu/
[16] The Cuban industry / Bob Tippee / Dec 7th, 2015 / Oil & Gas Journal / http://www.ogj.com/
[17] Cuba seeks more tests of deepwater potential Bob Tippee / Dec 7th, 2015 / Oil & Gas Journal / http://www.ogj.com/
[18] Crude oil storage facility going up in Matanzas / Cuba Headlines / Aug 8th, 2010 / http://www.cubaheadlines.com/
[19] Capítulo I. El sector energético en Cuba (2008) / Oficina Nacional de Estadisticas, Cuba / http://www.one.cu/
[20] Republic of Cuba Power Sector Infrastructure Assessment, 2010 / University of Miami: Cuba Transition Project / http://ctp.iccas.miami.edu/
[21] “Hydroenergia a Pequena Escala: Soluciones Locales al Cambio Climatico y propuestas para el Dessarrollo Sostenible” Panel 6: Micro-centrales hidrolelectircas, Soluciones fuera de red en zonas aisladas. Casa Cubo (PDF) / Octobre 2013 / UNIDO: Observatory for renewable energy in Latin America and the Caribbean / http://www.renenergyobservatory.org/
[22] Azcuba – Uruguay Sugar Refining Mill / Industry About / http://www.industryabout.com/
[23] Biodiesel plant using jatropha oil feedstock opens in Cuba / Ron Kotrba | July 16, 2012 / Biodiesel Magazine / http://www.biodieselmagazine.com/
[24] Cuba and Panama inaugurate new photovoltaic plants / SEMI S.A. / http://www.semi.es/
[25] Gibara Wind Farm Provides Energy to Some 10,000 Homes / AHORA / www.ahora.cu
[26] Cuba planea que el 24% de su energía en 2030 provenga de fuentes renovables / El Periodico de la energia / http://elperiodicodelaenergia.com/
[27] Cuba construirá siete parques eólicos por un total de 750 MW con la participación de Gamesa / El Periodico de la energia / http://elperiodicodelaenergia.com/

The sources of charts and curves are specified under the images. 

For more information about the energy industry in Cuba see here