Motorola is trialling the used of wind and solar powered generators as an alternative to diesel power for remote GSM cell sites.
MTC Namibia will run the alternative power system between April 2007 and July 2007 in what’s promoted as the first-ever trial of the technology on a live network. The trial, supported by the GSM Association, involves the installation of the Motorola wind and solar system at an operational MTC Namibia cell site.
Besides the cost of fuel, this solution is a preferred solution to diesel motors because of, among others, the risk of theft and maintenance requirements. The logistics of refueling diesel generators are obviated by the new systems which don’t require fuel. This is an immediate benefit of using a system based on the sun and the wind. The system is going to be tested to determine how the equipment fares in the Namibian weather.
This is a great sign of things to come. If the trial proves to be successful we could start seeing more and more alternative energy source-based systems popping up all over the place which, of course, means improved uptime and perhaps even faster mainstream adoption of alternative energy sources in other areas of our daily lives.
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