MWC2010: Vodafone’s Green Tech programme
Vodafone had a more or less complete cell site outside their pavilion at this year’s Mobile World Congress in Barcelona, demonstrating their Green Technology Programme. The installation featured a bank of solar panels connected to what appeared to be a full cell site complete with antenna and base station controller.
The demo equipment itself was from Huawei Technologies and appeared to be their latest generation of energy efficient base stations. The size of the largest piece of gear was no larger than a small fridge and there appeared to be network equipment for a microwave backhaul solution.
The site, according to the explanation accompanying it, is supposed to be a “100% green” site targeting remote communities. It offers very low power consumption compared to ‘traditional GSM products’ and will enable operators to extend wireless coverage in developing countries in an economically viable way. It is unclear whether the site on display is an actual commercial product since the solar panels don’t seem all that big, hence the power it generates will be limited. Also, the equipment itself seems awfully exposed for hardware that is supposed to be situated in remote – potentially hostile – locations.
As you can see from the video below, the actual deployment of such sites were considerably larger, featuring a much larger back of solar panels and a much higher tower – understandably as you would need the height for expanded coverage in remote regions.
Alas, due to time constraints, I did not have time to speak to Vodafone regarding the site, but there’s lots of materials on their website linked above. I did however managed to find some operational data on such sites from one of their suppliers – PowerOasis, which will be described in another post (will linked later).
In the mean time, you can watch a video on Vodafone’s Green Technology Programme below:
Related posts:
- Alcatel-Lucent solar-powered site connects remote Senegal islands
- Exclusive: Eltek Valere introduces solar-optimized power rectifier for telecoms networks
- Eltek Valere introduces solar-optimised Smartpack Controller
- Pakistan’s Warid deploys Huawei’s solar-powered base station
- VNL's solar-power WorldGSM – available today
Category: Mobile, Networks, Renewables
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