Nokia Siemens Networks

Harvesting energy from the wind, the sun, Joan Baez

More and more operators are turning to renewable resources, and in surprising ways.

At this year’s Glastonbury Music Festival, official sponsor Orange UK offered people the chance to re-charge their mobile phones using kinetic charging devices that capture dance moves and turn them into electrical energy.

This is one of the more bizarre examples of how mobile operators are innovating to use renewable resources.

But the biggest opportunities for capitalizing on these resources exist much deeper down, at the basic network level.

Most operators are painfully aware that 80% of their energy consumption takes place in the network. And most of that energy is consumed at the cell site.

In new growth markets particularly, where mobile networks are expanding into rural areas, basic infrastructure such as a power grid is not always reliable - or even available - and base station sites need to run autonomously.

Traditionally, the energy used to operate these sites has come from diesel generators that not only create CO2 and other harmful greenhouse gasses, but also require constant re-fuelling and maintenance, which in turn lead to additional costs for the service provider.

Soaring fuel costs help make the case for sustainability

And the price of diesel is climbing to new heights almost every day.

"A sustainable alternative to power remote base station sites is to use renewable energy sources such as wind and solar power," said Anne Larilahti, head of environmentally sustainable business at Nokia Siemens Networks, in a speech given at a recent Green Forum industry event in Beijing.

"By 2011, our first choice to power these sites will be renewable energy."

Nokia Siemens Networks’ autonomous sites can be configured to best suit the environment of the site.

In the sunniest parts of the world, solar panels can be used to convert sunlight to energy and provide the electricity needed to operate the site, and are often complemented with wind turbines.

"Solar and wind technologies are mature, they have a long lifetime, their operational cost is almost nonexistent and the capital expenditure required is decreasing. The lowering investment cost and the increasing prices of fossil fuels work together to improve the business case of utilizing renewable energy sources" said Larilahti.

Good reasons to choose renewable resources

Wind and solar powered sites need very little maintenance and they are also relatively easy and inexpensive to install. Renewable power sources are an excellent choice for many emerging markets, because they contribute to the low total cost of ownership that is vital for providing affordable communications services to subscribers.

Plus, considering CAPEX and OPEX costs, an autonomous site powered by renewable energy sources can pay for itself after just 2 - 4 years depending upon location.

As Ato Amare Amsalu, Chief Executive Officer of The Ethiopian Telecommunications Corporation, said in a statement recently, "When it comes to the solar power, in the long term, it is very cheap and rewarding. And the other issue is to protect the environment from pollution. The energy solution we got from Nokia Siemens Networks is highly efficient."

From cell sites in Ethiopia to music festivals in the UK, operators are finding clever ways to do more, and use less, than ever before.