Cuba builds new power plants to ease energy shortages

HAVANA, March 25 (Xinhua) -- Cuba is building new power plants in its capital Havana to save energy and ease the pressure of electric power shortages in summer, Cuban state news agency Prensa Latina reported on Saturday.

More than 3,000 new generators have been installed, said Cuban government officials, noting that the new plants will provide Havana, a city with a population of 11.2 million, with high quality power service in the sweltering summer season.

Cuba has contracted to buy 4,158 generators under a nationwide Energy Revolution program designed to end chronic power cuts by May 1 by replacing the country's huge thermoelectrical plants with smaller and more cost-efficient energy facilities.

Among a series of initiatives adopted to solve the country's energy problems, Cuba also plans to expand the use of natural gas in electricity generation, after the idea has been tried out in Matanzas province, east of Havana.