Africa Cell Phone Provider’s Ingenuity Turns to Wind and Solar
For mobile telephone network providers in Africa like Safaricom, Kenya’s largest and the most profitable company in East Africa, extending services to rural hinterlands can pose so many challenges.
Infrastructure is a definite minus because there will be not much to talk about - bad roads, lack of electricity - yet cell phone communication knows no boundaries in any modern economy and even communities in backwater areas of the continent would go for the best connectivity.
The dilemma faced by these companies has always been how to power their base stations in an economical and environmentally-friendly way, given circumstances where no utility power is available.
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Currently, remote cell sites across Africa are typically powered by diesel generators with lead acid batteries providing back-up power should the diesel generators fail. With increasing costs of diesel fuel, concerns over diesel emissions and high maintenance requirements of the diesel generators and lead acid batteries, there is a strong movement by groups such as Safaricom to reduce diesel usage by integrating wind turbines or solar panels into the systems powering cellular sites.
But to do so requires an energy storage system that is capable of repeated deep cycling, with high reliability, long life and low maintenance costs. Again, diesel power is far from ideal. Supplying fuel in areas where the roads are very poor and armed escorts are sometimes required is very expensive. Also, the diesel generators are under-loaded so they are not operating very efficiently and they require more frequent maintenance.
Local technology firms have come to the rescue of these cell phone providers to design and supply pilot wind/diesel hybrid systems at very remote base stations, the systems consisting mainly of a turbine on a tower, sealed batteries, and an inverter, with remarkable results. But the idea is to gradually shift to wind and solar power only in a continent that has an abundant year round supply of both.
One such firm is Winafrique Technologies, an integrated renewable energy resource company in Nairobi whose directors believe Africa’s wind and solar potential is far from tapped. Winafrique has completed a total of 41 sites of which 21 are powered by wind and solar hybrids, cutting client energy costs by upto 70%.
An installation in Laisamis, a remote town of 1,000 people of the Soboto tribe (related to the Maasai) has changed the lives of the local people. Getting there from the capital Nairobi is a 24+ hour drive on bandit filled roads. Laisamis has no electricity, no running water, no sewers, no radio, no TV - but it does have cell phone service.
Even though Laisamis is very remote and the household income is very low, the new base station is already handling thousands of calls a day. In fact, the lack of electricity to charge local cell phones has emerged as a barrier and Safaricom will soon add a battery charging station to their base station facility. That too will be powered by the wind.
Cell phones allow children to talk to parents who have gone to work in the major cities, law enforcement to spread the word on cattle thefts, and clinicians to seek the advice of doctors. For the people of Laisamis, and other remote areas of Africa, a cell phone provider’s ingenuity coupled with wind and solar ensures they partake of modern technology too.
Image Credit: Bergey Windpower Co.
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