With social and financial pressure, the telecom contractors are finally coming around to the “green” movement; businesses are going environmentally friendly by altering how products are made and what is happening with the left overs. With a vast majority of markets going green: car industries, water governance , etc., the telecom field is no different. Diesel fuel is a leading resource that powers over several hundred thousand of the telecom base stations, most which are located in Africa. A statement by Addis Fortune claims “One single diesel powered base station can consume around 20,000 liters of diesel annually, and spew 50 tons of carbon emission into the atmosphere.” But there is light at the end of the tunnel, or rather sun light all around most of the locations of these telecom businesses. By going environmentally friendly these telecom companies can better use the abundant solar power that is easily accessible to them. This renewable energy can be harvested and used without causing environmental deprivation. There is even the potential of wind power as a renewable resource depending on the location of the base. With solar and wind energy there is a probable solution that the bases will not only have enough energy to function but also produce excess energy as well. One company has already started to implement the notion of using wind and solar power, a Swedish tech company called Flexenclosure. The company has produced a site solution called E-site. E-site is mainly powered by the eco-friendly resources, wind and solar in particular. The energy is stored in a battery bank where the power may be later accessed. Wind turbines have been customed prepared and matched to better work in the designated area of the base. With efficiency in mind the battery bank is monitored by an advanced system, Diriflex, which works to run the bank and sufficiently capture and store the renewable energy sources. One of the main reasons for Diriflex is to gather as much energy as possible and manage it accordingly as to not waste or loss any of the power. This main objective of Diriflex contributes to the gathering of about 90pc rather than 60pc. The site could have used a standard wind turbine and solar panels, but with this Diriflex machine the company will be able to obtain more energy and save money in the long run. By taking these means of finding alternate energy sources, each base is eventually saving money and undeniably cutting emissions. Multiply that by the number of bases and the overall diesel consumptions drops dramatically. Estimates report that if 100,000 diesel powered stations were to switch to solar and wind energy the results would be reducing global carbon emissions by up to five million tonnes annually. The selling point for businesses is the financial aspect in which companies that ‘go green' may find themselves in line of promising financial benefits such as tax incentives and financial paybacks. Supplying their own power, off-grid base stations may cost about 10 times more to operate and power then an on-grid base which is reliant on its outside power source, typically diesel. Off-grid stations are generally located in rural areas where there is a low average revenues per user (ARPU). With the cost of diesel on the rise, cutting the operating expenses (OPEX) is the ideal situation in order to be more profitable and save money. This ideally will promote more off-grid stations that rely on the renewable resources versus the financially and environmentally costly diesel. Solutions such as Diriflex and other ‘smart' technologies are being implemented to not only cut down the addictive, expensive need of diesel fuel, but also to reduce the CO2 emissions by up to 90pc. Saving on operating expenses and maintenance is also an attractive idea when it comes to saving money. While most ideas are hypothetical there are running examples of how effective these solutions, like Diriflex, can be. A site in rural Kenya has been running on these green solutions for over a year now. The site has been closely monitored for efficiency in costs and obtaining energy. Results show the diesel resources was only in use 6% of the time while the renewable energy sources and efficient battery charging were able to power the base station 94pc. Diesel consumption and carbon emissions were cut by 90pc, and 89pc for operating expenses. Maintenance visits and diesel refills, which is loaded with potential environmental harm, was reduced to being needed annually rather than several times a year. To put this into perspective, annual operating expenses for diesel average $40,000. With the renewable resources the cost, cutting transporting as well, could drop down to as low at $7,000. With about a two year payback wait period, the notion of implementing renewable resources versus diesel is not a farfetched idea but rather a realistic potential. Africa has many diesel based stations that have recorded high site operation expenses. Any reduction in expenses, like investing in renewable resources, could be the right equation to save capital in which could be allocated to network expansion, base development, etc. With statistics like “a business case recently developed for the West African network, for instance, shows that the eight year savings from 100 diesel site upgrades will equal 20 million dollars which equals the accumulated subscriber revenues over three years from the same 100 sites” it is a hard bargain for telecom business not to invest in renewable resources and wean off of the dependency of diesel. BM
