Technology

GP to instal solar panels

The country's largest telecom operator Grameenphone Ltd is going to instal environment-friendly solar panels, replacing diesel generator, to power its 140 off-grid base stations in the country's remote corners.

As the first telecommunication company in Bangladesh to deploy solar power in a large scale, the initiative would save 1.15 million liters of environment polluting diesel fuel in a year, reducing carbon emission up to 3062 tones at the year-end, a senior GP official said.
"On the basis of feasibility survey, we have selected 140 off-grid base stations for solar power source where diesel generators were the only source," Chief Technology Officer (Technology Division) of GP Tanveer Mohammad told the FE.
Installation would be completed by the end of this year, likely to bring-about a green-energy era in the country's telecommunication industry applications, he said.
GP in early September of this year signed power purchase agreements with three solar power producing companies -- Cosmos Energy Services, InGen Technology and Acme Tele Power -- for purchasing solar power to operate its remote base station sites.
Under the agreements, suppliers will install solar panels in Grameenphone's Base Transceiver Station (BTS) premises and maintain them. The operator will buy electricity on unit (Kwh) consumption basis for a contract period of 10 years with a buy back option after that period, as per the agreement.
Grameenphone Ltd has the largest mobile network, covering with 12,000 BTS across the country, offers telecom service to 27.92 million Bangladeshi subscribers (up to August 2010).