Differences in electricity generation from renewable sources from similar environmental conditions: The cases of Spain and Cuba

Abstract

In order to achieve the objectives set by the Sustainable Development Goals and the Paris agreement, the legislative framework that is developed at the national and regional level must be appropriate. Research has focused on the importance of environmental policies to stimulate renewable energy demand and has also highlighted the existence of legal regimes more inclined to preserve the current model of dependence on fossil fuels. The main aim of this paper is to observe the impact of different regulation framework in the use of renewable energies in electricity generation. The choice of Spain and Cuba was based on several reasons: first, they present different models of legal regulations for renewable energies, with more centralized power in the case of Cuba and more influence of supranational institutions in the case of Spain; second, they have similarities regarding their productive model (highly dependent on hydrocarbons as sources of electricity generation) and the high potential for electricity generation with renewable energies thanks to their rich natural endowment that could favor energy generation from sources like the sun, wind and water; finally, both countries face a global situation where they could take advantage of this cost-cutting moment, and therefore, of electricity tariffs, to propose a sustainable model of electricity generation based exclusively on renewable energies. The conclusions show that Spain can become a role model to improve the Cuban system, given that the European and Spanish "green" positions can be very useful in developing Cuba's future energy model based on renewables. The existing ties between the Caribbean country, Spain and the European Union (EU) should be the basis to support a model for which Cuba has an outstanding endowment of natural resources and where the similarities with Spain can generate synergies based on the European experience.