Where sites are beyond the reach of an electricity grid, or where the electricity supply is unreliable – and are remote enough to make the regular maintenance and refueling of diesel generators prohibitive – there are now a number of cost-effective alternative energy sources available.
The importance of these alternative energy sources is increasing as the costs of expanding into remote areas grow – for example, to cover road and infrastructure development, fuel transport and security. Energy-related expenditure can be as high as 50 per cent of the total OPEX in some markets, and cost of fossil fuels continues to rise.
As radio sites have become less energy-intensive, it has become more economically and technically feasible to use alternative energy sources. The choice of alternative energy sources; solar, wind, fuel cells and biofuels will depend on local conditions.
Read more how this is achieved in the White Paper Sustainable energy use in mobile communications.
White paper: Energy Sustainability in mobile networks
Startpage Energy optimized network Site optimization Alternative energy sources
