IHS opens Africa’s largest solar cell site
Nigeria-based telecoms infrastructure provider, IHS Africa has opened the largest solar-powered cell site in Africa for mobile operators.
The site is made up of solar panels covering an area of 96 m2 and will produce a total capacity of 12 kilowatt peak (kWp), according to IHS, and will supply electricity to three mobile network operators, with further room for expansion.
“We are pleased to see operators increasingly adopting the use of small, single-operator solar powered cell sites, alongside much larger installations, such as ours, to meet their power demands and reduce costs,” said IHS Group Chief Technology Officer, William Saad.
Greater demand is being placed on solar power, the IHS said, due to the difficulty of gaining access to power sites – which is often not possible, or comes at great cost.
The cell site will provide much-needed access to power for rural communities in Africa.
IHS currently has 4000 towers under management, owns 900 towers for co-location with each tower having guaranteed 99.9% uptime for electricity.
“This cell site forms part of our investment programme to reduce diesel consumption by an average of 40 to 50 per cent over the next two years for our 4,000 generator powered cellular communications towers in West Africa,” concluded Saad.
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