MTN and Vodacom are investing in renewable energy resources to power their base stations in sub-Saharan Africa.
MTN has completed and deployed an off-grid wind- and solar-powered base station in the small community of Kleinaarpen, in the Karoo. According to the mobile operator, the facility is also powered by hydrogen fuel cells as a secondary power source.
MTN Group sustainability manager, Zakhiya Rehman, explains that there's no electricity grid in the area and so the operator decided two years ago to start building a solar and wind power base station in the region. Excess power that's generated is given to the community for free.
“We actually operate in some of the most financially vulnerable communities in Africa,” says Rehman. “MTN's largest emissions stem from base stations and data centres, which far out-strip emissions from any other area in MTN.”
For this reason, says Rehman, MTN decided to look at alternative power sources. As part of its business planning cycle for 2010 to 2015, the company is driving three main sustainability projects. The first is greening internal operations within the group, with the aim of cutting down on power consumption. The second project is related to complying with health regulations in terms of electromagnetic frequency from its base stations.
MTN's third project, according to Rehman, addresses electronic waste. “When you take electronic waste, it's not just about recycling mobile handsets, but also the base stations. As base stations mature, e-waste will become more of a problem, and MTN is looking to recycle the actual field structure, and more importantly, the battery used to power the base station.”
MTN has also identified two sites in Delmas, Mpumalanga, that have the potential to be powered by natural gas. According to Rehman, MTN is working on a feasibility study with plans to use biogas and fuel cell technology at MTN sites.
The company's operations in Guinea Conakry, Rwanda, Liberia, Nigeria, Sudan and Uganda are also piloting projects using solar, wind and hydrogen fuel cell solutions to power base stations.
Aiming high
In Vodacom's 2009 sustainability report, the mobile operator says it has, together with Vodafone, established a target of 70% savings in the energy consumption of 3G base stations. It plans to reduce the energy consumption of its 2G base stations by up to 40% by renewing current equipment.
Vodacom has set out plans to deploy remote energy meters at 10% of its base stations. Similar to MTN, Vodacom reveals in its report that it's experimenting with renewable energy sources such as wind, solar and fuel cells to power its network equipment.
The organisation has installed fuel cells to power 40 base stations when electricity is unavailable. Vodacom says it also intends to roll out an e-waste recycling programme with its IT vendors.
Balancing act
According to Ericsson, growing network traffic and subscriber numbers have resulted in a higher carbon footprint and network costs for mobile operators.
The networking giant explains that operators are being called to respond to increasing carbon emissions concerns, carbon taxes, and fuel prices while expanding their networks and achieving business growth.
Spiwe Chireka, Frost & Sullivan industry analyst, says the adoption of green technologies by mobile operators is a supplier-driven initiative by companies such as Ericsson.
Chireka points out that MTN and Zain have been very active in implementing alternative technology solutions in Africa this year. “What we expect to see is European telcos, such as Ericsson and Alcatel-Lucent, that operate in Africa, to be at the forefront of driving green technologies.”
Sub-Saharan mobile operators are faced with pressurised margins and despite the long-term financial benefits of energy-efficient solutions, the initial capital expenditure to build this infrastructure is currently too expensive for them, indicates Chireka.
Chireka adds that over the next five years, mobile operators will start to take an incremental approach to alternative energy.
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