Page 81 - SAMENA Trends - November-December 2022

ARTICLE SAMENA TRENDS

Fig. A Typical Telecom Tower site

Hence, making telecom networks more Green Energy to Improve Profitability energy efficiency at the top of the mind.
energy efficient is not only necessary to At a typical cell tower, the power demand This should be the baseline expectation of
fight against global climate change, but is determined by the number of base operators everywhere.
with energy prices going up it is also a transceiver stations (BTS5) housed.
viable source of improved profitability. The power demand ranges from 1 kW There isn't a magic bullet
These changes also represent a great to 8.5 kW where more than 80% of these for lowering exorbitant
opportunity to reduce expenses, as configurations have a demand of less than energy usage in telecom
implementing energy efficiency measures 3.5 kW. To ensure power availability of
could potentially lower telecom operational more than 99.95%, tower owners’ backup networks. There are,
costs by up to 20%. the electrical grid with a combination of however, steps operators
batteries and diesel generators.
Critical to Switch to Renewable Sources of can take to reduce the
Energy Actions to Take Today power they use and shrink
To make up for the demand-supply gap, There isn't a magic bullet for lowering
telecom tower operators use diesel exorbitant energy usage in telecom net- their electricity bills. The
generators, batteries, and a variety of works. There are, however, steps operators most obvious and widely
power tools. The resulting energy costs can take to reduce the power they use and used solution is to switch
alone account for 20-40% of the total shrink their electricity bills. The most obvi-
network operating costs, affecting the ous and widely used solution is to switch all DC (Direct Current)
profitability of the operators, thereby all DC (Direct Current) power systems at power systems at access
making the current use of diesel generators access sites to high-efficiency rectifiers.
both an environmentally and economically sites to high-efficiency
unattractive solution. Hence, replacing Replacing legacy DC power systems with rectifiers.
lesser efficient fuel sources like Diesel with newer, high-efficiency models can improve
more efficient sources like Grid supply energy efficiency by 5-6% as high-efficien- It’s Now or Never
can lead to enhanced energy efficiency for cy rectifiers are smarter and better able By 2040, the telecom industry could be
telecom sector. Therefore, with the climate to manage energy than legacy systems. responsible for up to 14% of the world's
emergency hitting us hard, it is high time However, operators often choose to ignore CO2 emissions, according to an industry
that stakeholders across industries adopt these features in favor of static operation. report. It is high time that we make it our
sustainable sources of energy to drive collective goal to save our environment
inclusive growth. It is imperative today that every by leveraging technology to combat
provisioning decision at 5G site retrofit climate change and scaling up the use of
or new deployment should be made with renewable energy.

81 NOVEMBER- DECEMBER 2022