Support Solar Power Project

Help Vivian’s Family Establish Reliable Electricity

One of Vivian and her family’s most important long-term goals is to install a solar energy system at their home in Havana.

Cuba’s electrical grid suffers from frequent and prolonged blackouts. Electricity can be unavailable for many hours and, at times, for more than a day or two.

For Vivian’s family, losing electricity affects much more than convenience. It can mean difficulty keeping food refrigerated, pumping and storing water, charging phones and other devices, working, and managing the basic routines of everyday life.

A solar system would give the family a measure of independence from the electrical grid and provide something that has become increasingly difficult to count on: reliable electricity.

An Opportunity to Buy the Panels at Import Cost

Solar equipment is available locally in Cuba, but it is expensive.

Private Cuban businesses known as MIPYMES are able to import and sell solar equipment. Vivian has been offered an unusual opportunity through Amber’s godfather, who owns a licensed MIPYME authorized to import goods.

He has offered to include Vivian’s solar panels in an upcoming commercial shipment and provide them at his import cost, without adding his normal profit margin.

That reduces the cost of the panels to approximately $160 each.

Vivian’s family needs 14 panels:

14 solar panels at $160 each: $2,240

Professional installation, wiring and mounting: approximately $800

Total initial project cost: approximately $3,040

Purchasing the same panels through the local retail market would bring the total cost, including installation, to approximately $3,600.

This opportunity therefore saves the family about $560.

They Are Working Toward This Goal Themselves

Vivian and her family are not expecting friends to pay for the entire system.

They are saving toward it themselves and putting aside whatever they can. They already have approximately $1,000 committed to the project.

That leaves roughly $2,040 to reach the initial $3,040 goal.

In Cuba’s current economic conditions, accumulating several thousand U.S. dollars is extraordinarily difficult. Contributions from friends can make a meaningful difference, particularly while this opportunity to obtain the equipment at import cost is available.

Every contribution, large or small, moves the family closer to having a dependable source of electricity and being less vulnerable to prolonged power outages.

Contributing to the Solar Project

If you would like to contribute specifically toward Vivian’s solar project, the easiest way is to send money through Zelle to her trusted friend in Miami.

Please contact me and I will provide the Zelle information privately.

When you make the Zelle payment, please use only this note: For Vivian. Please do not mention Cuba or the solar project in the Zelle payment note.

Then contact me separately and let me know that you would like your contribution applied to the solar project. I will keep track of those contributions and make sure the money is designated for that purpose.

Every Little Bit Helps

You do not have to fund a solar panel yourself to make a difference.

Several people contributing $25, $50 or $100 can move the project forward surprisingly quickly. The goal is simply to help Vivian and her family close the gap between what they have been able to save themselves and what they need to make reliable electricity possible.

Thank you for helping Vivian and her family work toward something that could make an enormous difference in their everyday lives.