May 7, 2008—Averox Inc. has added the provision and installation of wind and solar powered generators for telecom base stations to its telecom services portfolio.
Averox has been providing telecom services on a turn key basis for some years to mobile operators to enable them to rapidly deploy base stations, says the company. Because it has significant experience in telecom services, it now can provide, install and maintain wind and solar powered generators for base stations as part of its expanded portfolio offerings.
The company points out that many telecom base stations are located in remote areas of emerging countries where electricity is either not available, is not reliable or is very expensive. In the past, this has required the use of diesel generators to provide power to the base station. This is expensive and requires regular visits by telecom engineers for maintenance and refueling.
Wind turbines and solar panels can be used to generate energy independently without the need for diesel generators or expensive maintenance. Additionally, revenue can be generated from the excess electricity produced which can be sold to the local utility, notes the company.
The power demand of base stations accounts for about 90% of the energy requirements of a mobile network. Wind generator equipment is less expensive than diesel generators to buy and install, so the lowered investment cost and the increased prices of fossil fuels improve the business case for utilizing renewable energy sources. These factors plus the environment friendly benefits of renewable energy leads Averox to expect that renewable energy will be the first choice for remote base station sites as early as 2009.
The company believes that a base station powered by renewable energy sources should be able to recover its installation costs after two to four years, in a good sunny or windy location, as a result of the combination of lower energy costs and revenue from selling excess power to the local utility.
For more information visit the Averox Web site.
