Unreliable electricity supply across many African countries poses a stiff challenge to expanding network coverage, which stifles socio-economic development.<\/p>\n
Turning to innovative hybrid solar power solutions can change all of that.<\/p>\n
Despite being the world\u2019s second largest in terms of both landmass and population, poor and unreliable electricity supply across many African countries pose a serious challenge to mobile operators looking to expand network coverage, hindering efforts to bridge the digital divide.<\/p>\n
Traditionally, network providers or tower companies looking to operate off-grid or in areas where grids are unstable have had to depend on diesel-powered generator sets to power sites. Depending on reliability of supply, this can result in enormous fuel and maintenance costs for the operator.<\/p>\n
Intelligent operations<\/strong><\/p>\n Huawei\u2019s Solar Hybrid Power Solution is based on industry-leading SolarMax technology, and converts the abundant energy from the sun into DC output to supply stable electrical power for site equipment.<\/p>\n The solution features intelligent management features: by analysing data from the solar panels, battery and generator set, an algorithm is used to modify battery charging times and generator running time to maximise the benefits derived from solar radiation.<\/p>\n This, together with lithium instead of lead-acid batteries, has shown to improve the harvesting of solar energy by as much as 40%, and to reduce fuel consumption costs by almost 70%, as compared to other hybrid solar power systems. The benefits could grow wider in summer months, with the intelligent solution being able to take advantage of lengthier periods of sunshine.<\/p>\n Intelligent batteries<\/strong><\/p>\n Huawei\u2019s Solar Hybrid Power Solution uses intelligent lithium batteries, called BoostLi, which includes several intelligent features, including central management tools that allow for remote checks on the system\u2019s state of health, state of charge, and more. This feature alone helps operators cut down on hundreds of dollars required per site visit.<\/p>\n Another challenge facing network expansion is the issue of theft; with multiple channels available for the recycling of lead-acid batteries, some operators report that up to 20% of batteries are stolen. With Intelligent Protection, BoostLi batteries that are disconnected from their central monitor can be \u2018locked\u2019 after a user-defined period, after which they will no longer supply power.<\/p>\n The batteries have surpassed the industry standard for parallel output power with 15kW against 5kW, and further help operators maximise existing infrastructure investments by allowing for the mixing of intelligent lithium with legacy lead-acid batteries.<\/p>\n Working with African operators<\/strong><\/p>\n Safaricom, one of East Africa\u2019s major mobile network operators, was faced with high battery theft rates and fuel bills exceeding US$10 000 per site before turning to Huawei\u2019s hybrid solar power solution. Battery theft has dropped to zero, while fuel consumption has been cut by 90%.<\/p>\n The solution helped MTN reduce battery theft to zero and improve network reliability slightly. Tower operator ANTOSC (Angola Tower Sharing Company), which has deployed the hybrid solution in off-grid areas, has been able to save over $20 000 in fuel costs.<\/p>\n <\/p>\n –<\/p>\n <\/p>\n Source: Huawei<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":" Unreliable electricity supply across many African countries poses a stiff challenge to expanding network coverage, which stifles socio-economic development. Turning to innovative hybrid solar power solutions can change all of that. Despite being the world\u2019s second largest in terms of both landmass and population, poor and unreliable electricity supply across many African countries pose a […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":7,"featured_media":348629,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[5],"tags":[3,2143,515],"yoast_head":"\n