KENYA: In its endeavour to become 'greener', Kenya embraces a wind-solar solution for its mobile phone market

Record ID: 361869

  • Title: KENYA: In its endeavour to become 'greener', Kenya embraces a wind-solar solution for its mobile phone market
  • Date: 5th October 2009
  • Summary: (SOUNDBITE) (English) DIRECTOR OF TECHNICAL SERVICE - HUAWEI, JOHN TANUI, SAYING: "We provide products that can enhance reduction of use of power and in this case we had one solution which we provided to Safaricom which is a hybrid solution mainly for their remote sites." MAN CHECKING SOLAR PANELS TRANSMISSION MAST
  • Embargoed: 20th October 2009 13:00
  • Keywords:
  • Location: Kenya
  • Country: Kenya
  • Topics: Industry,Science / Technology
  • Reuters ID: LVA1PRNHFS0CZRWI3CP05CPZ17V8
  • Story Text: Global telecommunications solutions provider Huawei teamed up with Kenya's biggest mobile phone company Safaricom, to provide 'green solutions' to power its base transmission equipment.
    The wind-solar-diesel solution is located in a Masai residual community -- over 50 kilometers away from the Kenyan Capital.
    Like many rural communities, the area is beyond the coverage grid and many of the local residents use small wind turbines to power their lighting devices.
    "When we build our network more in the rural areas the presence of KPLC was too far away and was not viable to extend the power lines any more. That is how we came up now with this initiative to use solar, to use wind power especially where we have good wind speeds," said John Barorot, Safaricom's chief technical officer.
    Apart from the solar panels and wind turbines, the site uses two diesel generators as a back-up power supply.
    "On our more then 2,000 base stations country-wide, each one of them has a generator with diesel. In fact we consume up to 700,000 diesel per month because apart from KPLC we have stand by power," said Barorot in an interview with Reuters.
    Severe drought and low water levels in the dam -- which power the hydroelectric plants -- have increased the inconsistency of power supply.
    "We provide products that can enhance reduction of use of power and in this case we had one solution which we provided to Safaricom which is a hybrid solution mainly for their remote sites," said Huawei's Director of Technical Service John K Tanui.
    Regular refuelling and maintenance costs are high. Moreover the diesel generators produce a large amount of harmful gas, polluting the environment.
    After the installation of the wind power turbines and solar power panels on the site, fuel consumption was cut by 95 percent. Fuel transportation and regular maintenance costs have also been cut down by over 90 percent.
    The new green energy also enables Safaricom a more eco-friendly solution and resolves the bottleneck of power supply for Safaricom's network expansion.
    The green energy from natural resources provides power for the equipment and can be used in rainy and sunny conditions alike.
    This way the continual use of connection is guaranteed even with power outages.
    Huawei's products and solutions include wireless products like the equipment for mobile wireless Internet on 3G platforms.
  • Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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