On the tiny South Pacific island nation of Vanuatu—it’s more of a collection of atolls, really—a telling green experiment is being carried out. Mobile provider Digicel Pacific is supporting 60 percent of its traffic on systems that are powered by wind and solar.
While one might be tempted to draw parallels to the ingenious contraptions made by the marooned cast of Gilligan’s Island, Digicel is supported by the GSMA Development Fund and is using the latest technology to juice up its 25 base stations on the Pacific archipelago.
Typically, off-grid base stations have been powered by generators running on diesel, which is increasingly erratic in price, costly to distribute and generates carbon dioxide emissions. Digicel's approach of using solar, wind and hybrid power provides a more cost-effective than either solar cells or wind turbines alone, to bring economy-boosting GSM coverage to some of the most remote communities in Vanuatu.
"By implementing alternative sources of energy, we are able to connect the unconnected, making communications accessible to many in Vanuatu for the first time," said Tanya Menzies, CEO of Digicel Vanuatu. "The work we are doing in Vanuatu is particularly important to the Digicel Group, as it's serving as a model for alternative power deployments for other Digicel networks around the world."
Digicel launched commercial service there in June 2008. Later this year it plans to install a new wind turbine to an existing wind farm to power a portion of its sites, enabling the operator to reduce its annual power bill by an order of magnitude.
“Our work with Digicel further demonstrates the commercial viability of implementing renewable energy systems on a broad scale and has helped establish best practices for future green power projects,” said Michael O'Hara, chief marketing officer for the GSMA.
