Vodafone is expanding its telecom network, partly driven by the rollout of 5G. This requires a large number of new telecom cell towers across the Netherlands. In rural areas especially, this brings a challenge: connecting to the grid takes a relatively long time. To act faster, telecom giant Ericsson needed a temporary solution to get its cell towers up and running quickly.
A sustainable roll out of Vodafone's telecom network expansion. The goal was to make the power supply for the 5G cell tower both sustainable and financially attractive, at a lower cost than other, more polluting energy options. In short: good for the environment and for the customer's energy costs.
The main challenge was delivering enough power to get the 5G towers operational, fast. Building new grid connections takes time, especially in rural areas. The telecom provider needed the fastest possible power supply so the 5G cell towers could go live. A challenge Volta Energy was happy to take on.
A financial saving of almost 40%. The Volta 15 ran for a total of 36 days at an Ericsson cell tower in Waardenburg. Because its solar panels generated a significant amount of energy, the backup only had to run for 54 hours, instead of 864 hours for a diesel generator or an HVO B100 biodiesel generator. Only 175 liters of diesel were used, a saving of almost 2,500 liters. Bottom line: this project delivered a financial saving of 37.3% compared to a conventional diesel generator, and as much as 79% compared to an HVO B100 generator. The environment benefited too, with a saving of 8,869 kilograms of CO2 emissions and 11.9 kilograms of NOx emissions.
Although the results in Waardenburg were a success, Volta Energy is already exploring ways to cut those last liters of diesel too. We're working toward an even more sustainable future, one where we hope to replace the power supply at many more locations with our sustainable Voltas.
Diesel savings
Nitrogen savings (NOx)
CO2 savings
Duration
