Solar Energy Can Resolve Telecom Tower Menace

India currently has around 300,000 telecom towers and would require another 150,000 within the next three years to keep up with the demand. Currently, the total carbon emissions from telecom towers in India is 11.76 billion pounds or 5.3 million tonnes, annually. The annual cost of diesel incurred in running the towers across India is estimated at Rs 64 billion.

These figures indicate that the telecom sector is emerging as the largest consumer of energy in India, highlighting the growing need to promote the adoption of renewable energy options for the Indian telecom sector.




Use of solar powered cellphone towers would reduce more than 5 million tonnes of carbon emissions.

Why renewable resources?

Alternative energy options including solar and wind energy can address the challenge of unavailability of reliable power supply in semi-urban, rural and remote areas, thus enabling telecom connectivity for the remote parts of the country. Renewable resources of energy will not only cut down the operational expenditure (OPEX) by around 15-20 per cent but also hold a viable alternative to the power crisis under rising fuel prices. If we make an estimate considering around 120,000 telecom towers in rural areas that run on diesel gensets for almost 12 hours a day consuming 24 litres of diesel, the cost of running these towers will work out to around Rs 3 billion per month. Thus, it has become imperative for the telecom operators to look for alternative sources of fuel to run these stations, such as solar power, wind power, biodiseal, biogas, etc., which may provide feasible solutions to the problem and also contribute towards a greener environment with zero emissions.

Five ways to resolve it

Emphasising the need to take green steps in this direction to convert diesel genset powered telecom towers into solar powered towers, CMAI, an integrated association for IT and telecom companies in India, had organised a round table on renewable energy to discuss renewable energy options for the telecom industry. The conference was inaugurated by Thiru A Raja, Union Minister of Communication & IT and Dr Farooq Abdhullah, Union Minister of New & Renewable Energy (MNRE).

Ravi Sharma, executive chairman, CMAI, proposed five recommendations to tackle this menace.

Firstly, considering the sensitivities of the environment and the ill effects of carbon emissions on people, the government should make solar power mandatory for every new telecom tower coming up.

Secondly, the government should start an initiative to convert the power setup of all existing telecom towers to solar power within a reasonable timeframe or within three years.

Thirdly, the changeover policy should be financially viable, and this can be possible by forming a high powered committee including officials of both telecom and MNRE.

Fourthly, the association wants that the ministry should generously utilise the United States oil (USO) fund for this activity, so that telecom operators will be willing to convert from traditional to solar powered towers.

Fifthly, the association wants some amendments regarding the draft guidelines for selection of new grid connected solar projects under phase I of Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission. Instead of selection of developers on the basis of giving the highest discounts on price, it recommends that the selection should on based on technical and financial criteria.

While appreciating and acknowledging the recommendations of CMAI, Dr Abdullah and A Raja announced that both the ministries will jointly form a core committee, with participation from telecom, and environment and forests ministries as well.