In the green corner

The mobile industry is adopting green policies in line with global initiatives to focus on sustainable and renewable power sources and lessening climatic impact on the environment. Developing markets have been quick to trial and adopt these new initiatives – both from a corporate social responsibility perspective, as well as in order to reduce OPEX associated with maintaining off-grid base stations (BTS) in challenging environments. Green Giraffe’s Michèle Scanlon reports

Markets such as India and Nigeria are often cited as examples
of the high cost of power as related to the operation of diesel-powered generators. In 2008, Indian operators used an estimated two billion litres of diesel to power their networks. OPEX splits from operators indicate that on average a third of OPEX is directly attributable to power and fuel consumption whilst in rural areas this exceeds 50 per cent of OPEX. Similar issues face most operators in developing markets. Caribbean and South Pacific operator Digicel reports it spent US$11 million on diesel in 2008 to power its Haitian network, though a generator/ battery hybrid solution has already proven to show 35 per cent savings in diesel OPEX in trials in the country.

Spanish operator, Telefonica, has urged the industry to adopt greener policies and specified that the ICT sector should look to cut carbon emissions by 15 per cent by 2020. Elaine Weidman, VP Sustainability at Ericsson estimates the ICT sector is responsible for 2 per cent of global carbon dioxide emissions, and has set its own target to reduce emissions by 40 per cent within five years.

Telefonica’s carbon foot print for 2007 is recorded at 1.74m tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions, of which 84 per cent was attributable to electricity consumption. The operator formed its own renewable energy group towards the end of 2008 to address energy issues across the group’s operations. Telefonica has existing renewable energy projects and trials in Chile, Ireland and Mexico.

Other green policies endorsed by Telefonica that will help reduce the impact of mobile phones on the environment include SIM-only contracts and the GSM Association’s (GSMA) initiative for a universal phone charging solution launched by the industry association and incorporating 17 operators to deliver a common charging solution by January 2012. The initiative also aims to drive adoption of energy-efficient chargers, which would result in an estimated 50 per cent reduction in standby energy consumption and the potential elimination of up to 51,000 tonnes of duplicate chargers.

GSMA Initiatives
In September 2008, the GSMA launched its Green Power for Mobile programme targeting 118,000 new and existing BTS to be powered by renewable energy sources by 2012, equivalent to 50 per cent of BTS in off-grid areas. The Green Power for Mobile initiative is backed by a working group of 30 operators with trials already being led by the GSMA Development Fund in India, Namibia, Nigeria, Sri Lanka and Vanuatu.

The GSMA estimates that less than 2,000 BTS globally are powered by renewable energy sources, and that 1.6 billion people are located in off-grid areas with a further 1 billion affected by unreliable grid access.

The GSMA Development Fund estimates that the average diesel-powered BTS generates carbon dioxide emissions in the region of 42 tonnes per kW.

In a GSMA led study, solar and wind solutions were ranked as the most advantageous for mobile operators taking into account CAPEX, OPEX, propensity to be stolen, reliability, supplier availability, green image and predictability of output among other factors. The GSMA is conducting a multivendor trial in Sri Lanka with market leader, Dialog to help refine its green power scorecard.

Dialog is deploying 10 solar and wind-powered BTS sites. The trial commenced with two sites deployed in February 2009, and a further four will be launched in March and April respectively. Overall five sites will be deployed in off-grid and a further five in on-grid locations. The trial covers nine different vendors’ equipment. Preliminary observations from the two live sites indicate that wind power is not consistent and that solar energy is closer to project expectations at a remote mountain site, and that wind power is satisfactory and solar power on target at a remote coastal site.

Hans Wijayasuriya, CEO of Dialog, commented on the economics of an ideal renewable energy site, stating that it should provide a return on investment within a three-year period, have a zero energy cost (or at minimum a 90 per cent reduction on previous energy costs), as well as generate carbon credits of EUR 588 (US$796) per annum.

In Vanuatu in the South Pacific, Digicel has been working on a green power initiative funded by the GSMA Development Fund. The operator has completed its second phase with 25 BTS being powered by wind or solar energy and now carries a phenomenal 60 per cent of all its traffic through renewable energy powered BTS over a total of 55 BTS on 12 islands.

BTS
Indian vendor, VNL, estimates that by 2012 the industry would have an additional two billion subscribers requiring an additional 2.5million BTS of which 90 per cent would be in areas of no existing infrastructure coverage, thus the need for sites powered by alternative.

VNL launched its WorldGSM solar powered GSM BTS at the Mobile World Congress in February 2009 and the rooftop tower wholly relies on solar power and requires on average only 160W to operate compared to 3kW for a conventional
GSM BTS. The WorldGSM site is designed to be easily assembled within six hours by an electrical sub-contractor rather than a highly skilled site engineer for regular sites. Each rooftop site is configured to serve an average of 150 customers and can remain powered for 72 hours without sunlight. The ability to store energy efficiently and optimise battery lifespan are cited as key advantages for moving networks to solar power by BP Solar, a wholly owned subsidiary of BP.

The “zero OPEX” site only requires lease site charges and maintenance charges for weekly cleaning of the solar panels. Prices are dependant on volume, but VNL comments that its WorldGSM site is available for less than US$10,000, and first commercial deployments are expected in H2 2009.

Ericsson estimates that the average payback time for an alternative energy-powered BTS is 18-36 months depending on climatic conditions and economic model, and reports an 80 per cent reduction in OPEX in its Millennium Village programme in Dertu, Kenya. Mario Assaad, CTO of Digicel comments that payback periods may be up to six years for solar sites and five years for hybrid solar/wind solutions.

Mike Bergey, president and CEO of US-based Bergey Windpower, presented cost and environmental impact analysis of the company’s wind turbine solution, which has been utilised in a telecoms context since 1984 with 1,600 installed sites globally. The turbine only has three moving parts and requires no scheduled maintenance, and has an average CAPEX cost of US$40,700 per unit. Good broadcast sites are considered appropriate for wind solutions based on elevation and exposure, with a 24m-40m tower required. A hybrid wind/solar/diesel solution costs approximately US$110,000 but can provide on average US$25,000 savings in fuel OPEX.

In Kenya, 23 per cent of Safaricom’s 1,800 BTS are in off-grid locations, which are currently mainly powered by diesel – generators. The operator commenced a green strategy in 2003 to convert some of its existing sites to alternative fuels and Safaricom now has 29 green sites of which two are non-reliant on diesel. Figures presented by Michael Joseph, CEO of Safaricom, indicate payback within two years on installation and running costs of a solar/wind solution compared to a conventional BTS and annual savings of US$168,000 in year five of operation.

Safaricom is also trialling alternatives to electric or dieselpowered air conditioning units on sites using battery coolers. The operator has also offered free solar phone charging on the outside of its BTS sites in order to provide a community service in areas of unreliable or limited access to on-grid power.

Handset chargers
Wales-based G24 Innovations (G24i) is majority owned by Renewable Capital, a private equity firm specialising in green technologies. The company has worldwide licensing rights to Switzerland’s Ecole Polytechnique Federale de Lausanne (EPFL) solar technology and specialises in lightweight, flexible solar panels that can produce energy in lowlight conditions. Based on dye-sensitised solar cells, G24i has created solar phone charging packs that are customised by operator branding and colours. The lightweight panels can be built into personal items such as backpacks or community structures such as bus shelters to provide constant solar energy.

Finnish innovator, Suntricia, estimates that the portal solar charger market is currently valued at less than US$100 million, but is growing at a rate in excess of 100 per cent per annum. Of the current base of four billion customers, Suntricia estimates that 600 million lack access to recharging facilities. Suntricia has two designs – SolarStrap and SolarBadge. SolarStrap is geared for emerging markets and is a self-styled “wearable energy harvester” worn on the body. The 60g charger has an approximate retail price of EUR25, which may in fact price it out of the very market it targets. Nonetheless, Suntrica has teamed with VNL to bundle its chargers with VNL’s WorldGSM site to provide a fully powered solution to operators looking to reach off-grid areas.

Freeplay Energy, one of the first providers of self-sufficient energy products, also unveiled a solar powered casing for the iPhone in Barcelona in association with Intivation (see below). An hour of sunlight provides 60 minutes of talk time for the original iPhone or 30 minutes for the 3G version.

Handsets
Whilst solar handset chargers have been available for a few years, 2009 sees the first solar powered handsets come to market. Four such handsets were launched in Barcelona.
ZTE announced its Coral-200-Solar phone in conjunction with Digicel for launch in June 2009 in Digicel’s South Pacific markets of Papua New Guinea, Samoa, Vanutu and Tonga. The Digicel-branded phone will retail for under US$40 and is claimed to provide 15 minutes of talk time for one hour of sunlight. Since Q108, Digicel offered free or subsidised solar charges in trials in Papua New Guinea, and the operator recorded a 10 per cent increase in ARPU from existing users directly attributable to the increased availability of a powered phone.

The ZTE phone is based on technology developed by Dutch company, Intivation, which was one of the winners in the 2009 GSMA’s Mobile Innovation Awards for Most Innovative Wireless Device-Centric technology. Intivation won the award for its chip-technology that enables the conversion of solar energy twice as efficiently as any existing technology, thus enabling lower cost solar handsets to be manufactured. Intivation estimates its technology will be able to service 1.6 billion users globally in power-challenged markets.

US firm Commtiva also uses Intivation’s technology and announced the launch of its “Sola” solar powered low-cost mobile handset at the show. The dual-band GPRS colour phone is priced slightly higher than the ZTE’s, and is expected to sell for US$35 to the distribution channel. It is understood to be in final stages of production. The 90g Sola phone can provide three hours talk time or 10 days standby time on a full charge, or 40 minutes talk time and 39 hours standby time on a two-hour solar charge.

Of the five phones that Samsung launched in Barcelona, one was a solar powered phone made of recycled plastic. The “Blue Earth” touch-screen model is made from recycled water bottles and has a solar panel on the back. The touch screen phone features an energy saving mode to lower backlight levels and switch off Bluetooth, but as yet no pricing or launch information has been announced.

LG also included a solar phone among its show launches to be unveiled in Europe by year-end 2009. The unnamed phone provides a three minutes of call time from a 10 minute charge, and like the Samsung Blue Earth is made of bio-plastic. This follows the launch of the LG HFB-500 Bluetooth solar car kit in January 2009 at the CES show in Las Vegas.

The Future is green
Lessons learnt from implementations to date include the necessity for remote monitoring of BTS. Site acquisition requirements need to be adjusted to account for new power sources such as solar energy. It is often difficult to retrofit an existing site, thus planning green power is required at network design level before equipment is ordered, and microclimate experts should be engaged to ensure the correct energy source is matched to the geography. Upfront CAPEX of solar solutions may still be prohibitive, but lower OPEX and energy consumption balances the investment decision. In consumer products such as handsets and chargers, pricing and business models still have to evolve to an equitable model between consumer price points and operator willingness to subsidise the cost in order to reach new customer segments.

Going green has rapidly climbed the global socio-political agenda, and the record high oil prices seen in 2008 forced the hand of many emerging market operators to conduct serious cost-benefit analysis on new innovations in green technology. Developments are still in their infancy, as evidenced by funding from private equity and incubator projects such as the GSMA Development Fund, but it is clear that future developments in networks and handsets will all be a shade of green.

The author is principal consultant at Green Giraffe, an independent South Africabased telecoms consultancy focussing on commercial and technical strategies for emerging market operators. Michèle is a regular contributor to Comm. and can be contacted at michele.scanlon@greengiraffe.cc