The first Moroccan operator and leader in its sector, Maroc Telecom has awarded the company a contract through a period of two years, enabling it to supply power to its new stations (BTS) dedicated to mobile phones. As it is a turnkey project, Maroc Telecom also entrusted the design, development and engineering support for all sites covered by this contract to Schiele Maroc to reach a global power system of 1.5 MW.
As the sites are located in remote areas far from the electricity grid, they will be powered with a combination of PV and diesel gensets and possibly a wind turbine for few sites. The installation of the first system started in March 2012. This contract was signed in December 2011 and includes a volume of 10 Million US Dollars for up to 60 turnkey GSM systems.
Schiele cooperates with the French/German PV system integrator Phaesun to equip the systems with reliable power supply. Energy monitoring and control is based on Phaesun technology. The Phaesun PNGM includes a control panel as an interface that synchronizes all the components of a standalone solar or hybrid system via an adapted programmable charge controller.
The latest version of Phaesuns software
Phaesoft will be used for data acquisition and allows a web-based monitoring; the software will be launched in Q2/2012. The telecommunication network in Morocco is one of the fastest growing networks on the African continent. The telecom access programm is carried out by the national agency (l'Agence National de Réglementation des Télécommunications) in cooperation with various telecom operators; Maroc Telecom is one of them.
These GSM stations are often located in difficult-to-reach remote areas where it is extremely expensive, or sometimes just impossible to connect to the grid. Therefore the reliability of the solution to energy supply becomes essential. Compared with the use of fossil fuels, the use of PV is far more effective due to the fact that energy is available on demand, independent from generator starting and stopping. Unmanned automatic operation is possible.
Moreover, the use of PV avoids the difficult regular transport of bulky and heavy fuel to rough lands while the environment benefits from this on the other hand. Karim Lahrichi, Head of Energy and Telecom Department, explains: "Maroc Telecom sets standards in the use of renewable energy for the operation of telecom systems. This has an impact on the whole region.
Schiele Morocco is honored to be one of the first companies in Morocco that contribute to the development and growth of renewable energy through this type of project for Telecoms. Michel Mansard, Managing Director of Phaesun France adds: "The technological efforts made by the PV industry have been significant and enable leading operators like Maroc Telecom to accelerate their deployment of GSM with renewable energy. Projects such as the Maroc Telecoms endeavour will prove that the use of renewable energies for off-grid power supply is the only imaginable option in the future."
