Vodafone combining solar and wind for self-powered mobile masts

The implementation of this technology could drastically reduce the operator’s energy consumption, helping to contribute to the company’s net-zero carbon emissions target of 2027
Energy consumption has long been something of a bugbear for operators. As data traffic increases steadily year on year, so too does energy consumption, despite new technologies helping make networks themselves more efficient. The cost of network energy consumption represents a huge, growing financial burden for the operators, not to mention the increased carbon emissions associated with this energy production.
 With sustainability and climate change becoming increasingly prominent concerns for telcos, as well as profit margins as slim as ever, this worsening situation needs to be addressed.
 Now, Vodafone are presenting a solution, announcing the creation of self-powered phone masts, harnessing solar and wind power at the site itself.
 Working alongside their sustainability partner Crossflow Energy for the past two years, the new turbine technology will allow the mobile sites to be powered exclusively by locally generated renewable energy.
 In fact, according to Vodafone, the solution, which also incorporates battery technologies, could potentially remove the need to connect these sites to the electricity grid, allowing them to function completely independently. This, in turn, would remove a major barrier for deploying sites in rural and remote areas, where access to power grids can be a significant challenge.
 “We are committed to improving rural connectivity, but this comes with some very significant challenges. Connecting masts to the energy grid can be a major barrier to delivering this objective, so making these sites self-sufficient is a huge step forward for us and for the mobile industry,” said, chief network officer at Vodafone UK.