How Energas Turned an Environmental Concern into Cuba’s Cheapest Power

Roberto Castillo is one of the most experienced workers at the plant. His years of work in this industry have allowed him to learn almost all the secrets of oil and associated gas. When asked why plants like these are among the cheapest and most efficient alternatives for energy production, Castillo explained that natural gas is another hydrocarbon that forms beneath the Earth’s crust as a result of the sedimentation of organic matter. The expert also pointed out that this natural resource is found in what are known as “gas pockets” and is typically present in two types of deposits: non-associated and associated. In Cuba, associated deposits are found, where natural gas is “associated” with oil, that is, it accompanies it in oil wells. “For a time in Cuba, the associated gas was released into the atmosphere without being used. With the creation of the Cuban-Canadian joint venture Energas S.A., the associated gas from oil wells began to be utilized,” Castillo emphasized. “Part of the gas is used to generate electricity in combined cycle thermal power plants with gas turbines, and the other part is used for domestic cooking, benefiting thousands of families in the nation’s capital,” he added. Oniel Tápanes, another industry expert, explained that the accompanying gas allows the oil to be extracted from the reservoir. “After its separation from the oil, the gas comes to our plants. Without processing plants like ours, the gas would have to be flared, and those hydrocarbons would be lost, in addition to the emissions being released into the atmosphere. “Here we partially answer the question posed. It’s inexpensive because you don’t need new investments to extract it, since it involves some of the same investments made for oil extraction; however, it’s not the whole story,” Oniel Tápanes noted. According to estimates, the electricity produced by Energas’ three plants covers up to 10% of the country’s electricity generation at a significantly lower cost than other generation sources, such as thermoelectric plants. This is due to their high energy efficiency, meaning their high capacity to utilize hydrocarbon energy to produce power.

Oniel Tápanes further explained: “The first thing we need to know is that our industries are based on what we call combined cycle power. Combined cycle power plants transform the thermal energy of natural gas into electricity through the combined operation of a gas turbine and a steam turbine. The process involves the operation of two consecutive cycles: the Brayton cycle, which corresponds to the conventional gas turbine, and the Rankine cycle, which operates with the steam turbine.” This means that after the initial combustion of the gas in the combustion chamber (Brayton cycle), the escaping gases are passed to a heat recovery steam generator (HRSG). “In that space, the water is converted into steam, just like in a normal thermal power plant. That’s called the Rankine cycle,” he said. Oniel Tápanes also explained that “the efficiency of a simple machine is 29% (energy utilization). When a recuperative boiler is used based on the Rankine cycle (of the first generation), the utilization of the chemical energy in the fuel rises to 44% or 45% efficiency. In simpler terms, we get almost double the energy from this fuel.” In such complex times as those currently facing the Cuban power industry, the deepest aspiration of these specialists is to do much more. “During peak hours, we are delivering 315 MW of electrical power, a figure lower than the 480 MW installed capacity that the plant can actually produce,” said Edel Andrés Alfaro, economic manager of Energas. Alfaro added that there is currently unused generation capacity, “because there isn’t enough gas, since the lack of new wells is causing a natural decline.” Given this situation, new future investments will allow the El Fraile field to be interconnected with the Energas Puerto Escondido plant, increasing generation capacity. “CUPET will carry out new investments, so we project reaching up to 78% utilization of our installed capacity. The growth is estimated at around half a million cubic meters (m³) per day, which will allow us to increase power by about 70 MW above current production,” he said. On this topic, Alfaro emphasized the need to conserve gas for cooking in homes. “The gas we have to generate electricity is the same gas used in eight municipalities in Havana. If cooking demand increases, the gas available for energy production decreases proportionally, because it all comes from the same source.”

The recent completion of maintenance and synchronization of Unit 6 at the Energas Boca de Jaruco plant contributes to the reliability and power stability of the national grid. This was stated by Alfredo López Valdés, Director General of the UNE, in an interview with Cuban television. The official emphasized that, by utilizing natural gas from petroleum refining, Energas delivers the least expensive MW of baseload power generation. López Valdés stated that replacing the energy lost from daily maintenance using generator sets would require an estimated 700 tons of diesel fuel. “Therefore, its importance is enormous for us. It represents a large volume of energy, around three million kW per day, that was no longer being produced, and which is now being generated with this online generator,” he added. The UNE Director also explained that fuel limitations are the main factor contributing to the generation capacity deficit. He acknowledged that this has affected not only distributed generation by generator sets, but also, at times, the use of thermal power barges.

Gas stability allows for the recovery of generation capacity with an average contribution of approximately 200 MW to the national grid. Natural gas production supplying the Energas Boca de Jaruco and Energas Puerto Escondido plants, part of the strategy designed to increase fuel supply for electricity generation, increased to approximately 2,500,000 m³ in July 2025. This was reported by Reinier García Acosta, director of the production unit of the Western Oil and Gas Drilling Company, who noted that gas deliveries in the summer of 2025 were higher compared to the same period of the previous year. García Acosta explained that the stable delivery has allowed for the recovery of generation capacity equivalent, on average, to approximately 200 MW for the national grid. He stated that, in order to maintain a continuous flow to the Energas company, operational control measures are being implemented at wells located in the various fields. She also noted that work is underway on projects to drill new wells in the surrounding areas. Furthermore, Lianet Suárez Delgado, a specialist in oil and gas extraction and storage at the company, explained that the facility monitors the appropriate work schedule at the fields every four hours to ensure a continuous supply. “The production from the Energas Puerto Escondido field is fundamental for electricity generation, and we intend to guarantee all the plant’s technological capabilities to minimize disruptions,” she emphasized. A concrete result of this work is the contribution of the three plants located at Energas Boca de Jaruco, Energas Puerto Escondido, and Energas Varadero, which together generated 351 MW in the first days of July 2025. While this doesn’t cover the current generation capacity deficits, it confirms another step toward energy sovereignty, which also includes renewable energy sources. Suárez noted that achieving increasingly cleaner production and substituting imports, while guaranteeing the supply of crude oil and accompanying gas, is a priority for the company’s workers.

Energas Varadero was created due to the specific need to protect tourism, a sector that was booming in Cuba since the mid-1990s and was destined to become the locomotive of the Cuban economy. The oil boom couldn’t grow without considering tourism in this region, asserts Julio César Betancourt, Director of Energas Varadero. “We were obligated to protect the environment at all costs,” he said. Experts acknowledge that treating the accompanying gas was essential to reconcile oil exploration with the development of the tourism industry. Otherwise, the tourism industry in the area would have been threatened. Betancourt emphasized that treating the accompanying gas reduced emissions into the environment. But there were other benefits as well. Energas Varadero comprises three gas processing units, two refrigeration units for obtaining combustible gas, a fractionation unit for producing liquids (LPG and naphtha), and a sulfur production facility. It also has three gas turbines with a nominal capacity of 30 MW each, and a 70-MW combined cycle power plant (Figure 2).