Can you imagine your cellphone tower that transmits signals to your mobile handsets running on solar energy? That is set to happen soon, with as many as 400 telecom towers to be powered by panels that will sit on them, reflecting light from the sun to produce electricity that will be used by the towers.
The towers, which will get started in April in a R 120-crore project under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission (JNNSM) of the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE), will kick off in Andhra Pradesh, Bihar and Uttar Pradesh and involve state-owned Bharat Sanchar Nigam Ltd and tower infrastructure firm GTL and Indus Towers.
Of the 400 towers, installed at R30 lakh each, 100 will be of BSNL. The ministry will subsidise about 30 % of the tower costs.
Telecom towers need electricity to transmit signals, for which, towers are connected through grid in cities.
“But, in the uneven areas where the grid connectivity is erratic, ministry has planned to construct Solar Photovoltaic (SPV) plants to generate DC electricity, which in turn will be stored in the battery to get consume for transmitting signals” minister for new and renewable energy Farooq Abdullah told HT.
Ministry officials say the solar project, if effective, could be scaled up across the country that would save India 2.3 billion litres of diesel every year.