Africa is plagued by unreliable, intermittent and
often non-existent access to electricity, especially in rural areas. This is a
huge inconvenience and a big obstacle to economic development. Can mobile
operators be the unlikely saviours, bringing power to the people in rural
Africa, asks Peter Karaszi*?
Lack of power, inhospitable terrain, electricity thefts, shoddy and
neglected infrastructure, mismanaged power companies, dirty coal fired
stations, expensive power and frequent power cuts at best… the list of Africa’s
power problems is long. According to the International Energy Agency (IEA), the
overall electrification rate in Africa is less than 42%. In rural sub-Saharan
Africa, it is a shocking 14%.
To quote the IEA: “Energy alone is not sufficient for creating the
conditions for economic growth, but it is certainly necessary. It is impossible
to operate a factory, run a shop, grow crops or deliver goods to consumers
without using some form of energy. Access to electricity is particularly
crucial to human development as electricity is, in practice, indispensable for
certain basic activities, such as lighting, refrigeration and the running of
household appliances.”
Some countries are actually
moving backwards
Government-run electrification projects are painstakingly slow, for a
variety of reasons. Some countries are actually moving backwards. In South
Africa, as an example, Eskom lacks capacity and has been forced to introduce
“load-shedding” (a nicer word for planned blackouts). However, there are some very
promising new developments in power production coming from an unlikely source:
the mobile operators.
Mobile operators are used to operate in rural Africa. They have base
stations off-grid that need a lot of power, which has so far been provided by
diesel-fuelled generators. However, this is a very expensive (and dirty) way to
power base stations. So mobile operators have started to introduce “green”
power solutions for base stations, based on renewable energy sources (sun and
wind)
In just the last two years, there has been
impressive technological progress in the efficiency of green power management
solutions for the telecom industry. Better batteries for storage of energy and
more sophisticated control systems for e.g. more energy efficient battery charging
and usage of the various energy sources are two examples.
A flexible, green solution
One clear indication that these solutions are taking off, is the recent
announcement from Airtel in Nigeria that it will upgrade an initial batch of
250 diesel-powered base stations in Nigeria with E-site, a “green” energy
solution from Sweden’s Flexenclosure.
Taking the E-site solution as an example, it has proven to be able to
power base stations by more than 90% using renewable energy sources, over an
entire year and considering all weather factors. Over long periods, there is
actually more green power produced than is needed to power the base stations.
So power management companies, network suppliers and mobile operators
are now contemplating what to do with the excess power produced, and whether
more power can be generated for a small additional cost. The most obvious
answer is to share it with the surrounding local communities.
Free excess power used to keep vaccines
and medicines fresh
From a government point of view, there should also
be considerable interest in alternative ways of providing power for rural
areas. It would be much cheaper to sponsor additional infrastructure, e.g.
solar panels, at a telecom site for community applications like streetlights
and water pumps, than to expand the grid to remote locations.
At the longest running test site, in Dertu in Kenya, the excess power
produced by E-site has powered for two years a cold-storage room for vaccines
and other medicines that to date has helped more than 5,000 people in the area
with snake anti-venom and vaccines for newborn babies.
A new initiative by Flexenclosure and Ericsson, the world’s largest
mobile telecommunications equipment vendor, is called Community Power. As a
system it provides the possibility to share the power produced by E-site with
the surrounding local communities to power e.g. mobile and battery chargers
street lights, clinics etc – in effect turning the site solution into a power
station as well.
No more walking to do the talking
The Community Power solution in itself strengthens the business case for
off-grid deployments for mobile operators. The handset charging dock eliminates
the villagers’ need to walk for hours in order to charge their handsets, while
on the other hand the operator benefits due to higher utilisation of the
network, which increases revenues.
There are many alternative uses and social benefits
for the excess power. Extending mobile communications and power to even more
remote areas in developing countries will have a profound impact on the
communities giving them the means to get information, communicate with their
families, starting and running businesses, and getting access to banking
services.
It will be the next step in the empowerment of people, and a mean for
providing clean water, lighting, battery charging and power for private or
business applications. A tool for self-uplifting is far better than passive
handouts.
The blistering African sun and the strong desert and savannah winds are
free. Africa is on the threshold of bring finally able to harvest these clean
and constantly renewable energy sources, not only for communications but also
to bring power to its people.
*Peter Karaszi is a communications
expert in intelligent telecom solutions based in Cape Town, South Africa.
