This year, operators Kyivstar, Vodafone Ukraine, and lifecell launched pilot projects to install solar power plants (SPPs) at their base stations.
This year, operators Kyivstar, Vodafone Ukraine, and lifecell launched pilot projects to install solar power plants (SPPs) at their base stations.
This was reported Forbes Ukraine by the press services of companies.
Recall that on July 15, the National Center for Operational and Technical Management of Telecommunications Networks (NCT) adopted an order obliging communication operators to ensure the autonomy of mobile communications and the Internet for 10 hours during power outages by February 1, 2025.
Kyivstar installed solar panels in Odessa and Zhytomyr regions as a pilot project, in which it invested UAH 10 million. The main criteria for selecting regions are remoteness from distribution networks of distribution operators and unstable radio coverage, says Volodymyr Lutchenko, the company’s service representative.
In addition, the operator also analyzes the market and opportunities to feed its own electricity into the grid.
Vodafone Ukraine has installed three solar power plants in Poltava and Dnipropetrovsk regions. The company plans to draw final conclusions in the spring of next year, and then decide whether to move further in this direction, says the operator’s CEO Olga Ustinova.
lifecell is testing solar panels on towers, the operator’s press service reported.
Installing solar power plants is a solution exclusively for sunny periods of the year: in winter they do not produce enough energy to power base stations. However, under certain weather conditions, solar power plants can extend the battery life of base stations during power outages.
According to Kyivstar’s service center, most of the operator’s base stations in cities are located on the roofs of buildings, where there is limited space for installing panels. In addition, the panels require a lot of resources for their placement on site and maintenance.
Then why do operators need it?
