Sweeping blackouts in Cuba raise the question: Why has the island's solar buildout been so slow?

abcnews.go.com:

Cuba’s large-scale blackouts that left 10 million people without power this month wouldn’t have happened if the government had built out more solar power to boost its failing electric grid as promised, some experts say

HAVANA — Cuba’s large-scale blackouts that left 10 million people without power this month may not have happened if the government had built out more solar power to boost its failing electric grid as promised, some experts say.

In a nation with plentiful sunshine, Cuban officials have long had the opportunity to encourage solar power as one solution to national energy problems. But October’s sweeping outages — the island’s worst power failure in years — show little progress has been made.

“If you had extensive buildout of solar, solar farms, residential solar and storage, for the most part, you could avoid the problems they have,” said Dan Whittle, associate vice president of the resilient Caribbean practice at the Environmental Defense Fund, an advocacy group. “But they haven’t really built the policies to get there.”

Cuban officials blame the blackouts on the U.S. trade embargo and other sanctions, the pandemic's effect on tourism, and emigration all inhibiting Cuba's economy.

But experts say the government hasn’t updated its internal policies regarding foreign ownership and private financing, especially for critical solar projects, and are still focused on petroleum fuels. That's despite the fact that as part of the 2015 Paris Agreement, the Cuban government committed to 37% of its power coming from renewable energy by 2030, an ambitious increase from an initial 24% target.

John Kavulich, president of U.S.-Cuba Trade and Economic Council Inc., said there was much hope in the business community two