Solar cells for Africa
Small, single operator
solar sites are increasingly being deployed, given the absence of public power
in many parts of Africa, but this is the first large multi-operator installation.
The site is made up of
solar panels covering an area of 96 m2 and will produce a total
capacity of 12 kilowatt peak (kWp) and will supply electricity to three mobile
network operators, with further room for expansion.
William Saad, Group
Chief Technology Officer, IHS, said: “We
are proud to be one of the first tower infrastructure companies to deploy solar
technology in Africa. Through ten years of field experience we have developed a
broad range of techniques in diesel reduction and site-optimisation. We are
also pleased to see operators increasingly adopting the use of small,
single-operator solar powered cell sites, alongside much larger installations,
such as ours, to meet their power demands and reduce costs. African countries
provide reliable levels of intense sunlight and operators everywhere have
similar needs to reduce OPEX, improve uptime and be socially and
environmentally sustainable.”
“Furthermore, this cell site forms part of our investment programme to
reduce diesel consumption by an average of 40 to 50 per cent over the next two
years for our 4,000 generator powered cellular communications towers in West
Africa.”
Rural communities
offer a new potential source of revenue for mobile operators, as they continue
to expand the roll out of mobile data services. Site access is often difficult
in rural areas and connection to an electricity grid is seldom possible or
prohibitive in price, so a stand-alone power system is often required. As the
importance of wireless technologies grows, more towers will be needed, placing
greater demand on solar power.
Mr Saad adds: “We are committed to reducing carbon
emissions and continue to invest in R&D, aided by a grant from the U.S.
Trade and Development Agency (USTDA), to assess alternative energy solutions
aimed at reducing use of diesel generators.”
IHS currently has 4000
towers under management, owns 900 towers for collocation with each tower having
guaranteed 99.9% uptime for electricity.
* Follow Gadget on Twitter on @gadgetza
Contact info@gadget.co.za for further info.
Visit www.gadget.co.za for up-to-date IT news.
Copyright reserved Systems Publishers (Pty) Ltd
Printed via the 
Content Management System