Cuban woman surprises mother with solar panels during blackouts
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Yunita Cervantes, a Cuban woman living abroad, filmed her mother’s joyful reaction to receiving solar panels instead of construction materials for her home in Cuba.
Cervantes created the surprise by leading her mother, Maris, to believe she was receiving PVC sheets. The video, shared on TikTok, quickly gained over 215,000 views as it resonated with many experiencing Cuba’s ongoing energy crisis.
This gift is part of a growing trend among Cubans living outside the country, who are increasingly sending solar panels, batteries, and inverters to family on the island. Cuba has experienced eight nationwide blackouts in 2026 alone, with one outage on September 18th leaving over nine million people without electricity for 32 hours. While solar systems offer a lifeline during these extended outages, they remain expensive.
The government sells panels for 75,000 Cuban pesos, but a full system costs between $1,500 and $6,000 on the informal market. This high cost has also led to thefts, with at least one person arrested for stealing a solar panel. The Cuban government is attempting to encourage wider adoption by offering tax incentives for importing solar energy equipment.
