Mobile phone operator Grameenphone has signed agreements with three companies to purchase solar power to operate its off-grid base station sites.
Grameenphone is the first telecommunication company in Bangladesh to use solar power in a large scale, GP said yesterday.
Oddvar Hesjedal, chief executive officer of GP; MA Reaz, director for marketing of Cosmos Energy Services; Mohammad Ali Sarker, managing director of InGen Technology; and Amajit Gupta, head of sales and marketing for South Asia of Acme Tele Power, signed the deals.
The suppliers will install and maintain solar panels at Grameenphone’s base transceiver stations (BTSs).
GP will buy electricity on a unit consumption basis for 10 years with a buyback option after that period.
The mobile operator will use solar power at 140 sites by 2010. When completed, up to 1.15 million litres of diesel will be saved a year and annual carbon emissions will be reduced by 3,062 tonnes.
“We’re targeting to create the largest solar-powered cell network in the region,” said Hesjedal.
“We are very committed towards the “Green” revolution in network part and we look at it in a business viable mode to gain long term sustainability.”
GP has set a target of reducing 30 percent of its emissions by 2015 from the business as usual situation considering 2008 as the baseline.
It has been experimenting with renewable energy for last few years and installed 14 solar powered and one wind powered BTS so far.
The company’s green initiatives were acclaimed internationally and it won “Green Mobile Award” at the GSMA Asia Mobile Awards 2009.
