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E-Plus, Nokia Siemens Networks build Germany’s first off-grid base station

Munich, Germany, 03 April, 2011

Base station goes green by being powered with renewable energy

E-Plus, a leading mobile service provider in Germany, has become the first to operate a base station without using any German grid electricity. Instead, the site relies on a combination of solar and wind power, supported by fuel cell and deep cycle battery technology. Nokia Siemens Networks’ end-to-end Energy Solutions business set up the ‘green’ base station site.

The environment-friendly operation of the site allows E-Plus to reduce its carbon footprint. Nokia Siemens Networks’ remote energy management enables the monitoring of all green energy components at anytime.

"With this innovative energy concept, we show how mobile phone transmission sites can become carbon neutral," said Rafal Markiewicz, chief technology officer of E-Plus Group. "This new transmission plant is part of our sustainability strategy. For us, building the first green base station site of this type is an important achievement and underlines our claim to operate the most efficient network in Germany."

“ABI Research has found that 86 percent of the energy needed by an operator is consumed by its networks, and we are always committed to innovation that enables energy conservation for the communication service provider,” said Rohit Kumar, head of energy solutions at Nokia Siemens Networks.

“E-Plus’ commitment to the environment is closely aligned with our own, and it’s great to see that the operator will achieve energy efficiency and zero CO2 emission during this site’s operation,” added Stefan Ilchmann, responsible for E-Plus business at Nokia Siemens Networks.

Nokia Siemens Networks has provided a solar tracking system, which follows the sun and turns the maximum surface of the solar panels toward it, to increase solar energy production for the site operation. Nokia Siemens Networks’ Green Energy Controller* manages the solar energy, a wind turbine, a fuel cell system and the deep cycle battery technology, which is mounted in SiteStar** cabinets for extended life time. The vendor has also extended its network management platform, NetAct, for network monitoring and optimization to enable energy management of this site. This platform also enables the operator to remotely maintain and install new software remotely, which obviates the necessity of visiting base station sites, thereby further preventing CO2 emissions.

Green site operation and remote energy management help E-Plus achieve zero CO2 emissions during the operation, supporting its target to increase energy efficiency by five percent by the year 2012, and by 20 percent by the year 2020. Electricity grid independent base station can be used at locations lacking an affordable energy grid connection to cover ‘white spot’ areas and increase the broadband penetration.

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