Section ENVIRONMENT
TOPIC

WIND Hellas
Replacement of diesel power generators at remote base stations with hybrid power generators with the use of batteries and renewable sources of energy

To reduce diesel consumption due to power generation at remote sites, which were unable to connect to the electricity grid, and the subsequent reduction of carbon emissions from power generation.

Employees, collaborators, society

3 years

2014 was the year with the highest reported temperature. Increased temperatures, the new "normality", says a World Bank report, entails risks to growth. Telecommunications will be affected by changing ambient conditions, to a greater or lesser extend depending on the location and other parameters, directly and indirectly. The main impact will probably be increased costs either as additional operating costs, or because of damages, disaster recovery infrastructure and/or service disruption. At the same time, it also creates opportunities for the organization itself but also in society, such as the possible contribution of communication technologies to reduce the footprint of other sectors (enabling effect).

Regarding the footprint of WIND itself, energy management and emissions are consistently at the top of our priorities. We design and implement significant investments in our network and equipment, while achieving energy savings and reduce greenhouse gas emissions, either directly or indirectly. Powering of remote base stations, with no access to the electricity grid had been done solely by operating diesel power generators on a 24/7/365 basis. The consumption arising from the operation of these generators is a major source of emissions and cost for the company.

A new hybrid system was designed to replace the classic power generator, which consists of a diesel generator and a set of batteries that charge while the generator is operating and when fully charged, cease the operation of the generator. The generator turns on again after the battery set is fully discharged. This way the hours of operation of the diesel generator are significantly reduced, thus leading to major reductions in the fuel required to power the station, and consequently to reduced emissions. In addition, in 2014 we installed on a pilot basis 5 photovoltaic systems on equal hybrid generators, in order to reduce further fuel consumption when the generator is operational. Our plan is to extend the installation of renewable energy sources to even more hybrid power generating systems.

Collaborators (equipment designer, maintenance company)

No employees participated other than the project team.

Remote Base Stations without power grid access.

Since 2011, when the project begun and up to its completion the average consumption of diesel per generator has been reduced from 18,240lt/gen/year to just 8,788 lt/gen/year. Emissions per generator were reduced from 49.102 tn of CO2e in 2011 to 23.657tn of CO2e for 2013, a reduction that is nearly 50%.

Diesel consumption represents the second most important source of emissions for the company (after electricity consumption) and the most important source of direct emissions (scope 1) and was estimated at 19% of total emissions in 2011, whereas in 2013 the percentage had been reuced to 6,1% of total.

Equally important was the reduction of cost from fuel purchases. Thanks to the smart design of the new system, we buy approximately 1.000.000 less litres of fuel per year in comparison to 2012.
  • Reduced emissions.
  • Reduced fuel consumption.
  • Reduced costs for fuel pruchases.