Photovoltaic news and pv jobs

PV to be used for cooling of India's telecom towers

India’s Federal Minster for New and Renewable Energy (MNRE), Dr. Farooq Abdullah, has announced that the government is looking at running the country’s telecom towers on photovoltaic (PV) power.

The country has over 250,000 telecom towers in total. Image: Poly-Qual (India) Pty. Ltd.

MNRE has invested in a project to run 100 telecom towers on PV power for cooling and reducing emissions. If the project is effective, it will gradually be extended to develop others,” informed Abdullah.

The country has over 250,000 telecom towers in total, which consume around two billion liters of diesel every year, and emit approximately 5.3 million tons of carbon dioxide. In addition to the air conditioning of the indoor Base Transmitting Station (BTS), equipment like amplifiers, power interface units, batteries and tools require cooling, which consumes nearly 50 percent of the total energy required to operate the towers.

The PV modules will be used to provide electricity to the cooling systems in the towers, in order to help drive away the heat.

Switching to solar power, however, would not only reduce the use of fossil fuels, but also help to save money.