 |
Climate and Environment initiatives at Uninor |
Protecting the environment has been a key focus at Uninor from day one. We strive to reduce environmental and climate impact of our operations through various energy saving initiatives. |
| As a long term player in the Indian mobile industry, we believe we have a significant role to play in providing innovative solutions and shaping the future towards a low carbon society. |
| Uninor has deployed a number of initiatives to minimize power consumptions and emissions while ensuring that our network delivers the best basic services in the industry. The following initiatives are ongoing or will be completed by the end of 2011.
|
| Optimizing the cooling systems of base stations |
| Base transceiver stations need continuous cooling to ensure stable performance. This is usually done through conventional air conditioners. As an alternative, Uninor has installed free cooling units in base station shelters. Free cooling units are low power devices that uses natural temperature differences to reduce the need for long run times of air conditioning units. Almost 30% of the total tower sites will be fitted with free cooling units, and we expect significant reductions in power consumption through this initiative. |
| Pilot project: Uninor is currently piloting underground heat exchangers as an alternative way to cool base station shelters. This concept utilizes the relatively low temperature in the ground to cool tower shelters, reducing the dependency on air-conditioning. Pilot projects are in operation. |
| Minimizing the running time and fuel consumption of diesel generators |
| Remote mobile base station sites in India are still dependent on diesel generators, as the grid power system can be unstable and unreliable. Emissions from electric power are significantly lower than that from independent diesel generators. |
| Uninor aims to connect 95% of its base stations to the electric power grid, minimizing the running hours of diesel generators at our network sites. To ensure stable operations and unbroken connectivity for mobile customers, however, base stations will remain dependent on local back-up energy sources. |
| Uninor has initiated several initiatives to minimize the fuel consumption and maximize efficiency of diesel generators at our network sites. This is done through fuel catalysts; a small metal barrel fitted in to the fuel system of diesel generators to improve the efficiency of the combustion process. Catalysts contribute to saving fuel and reducing the impact on the environment. We intend to deploy approximately 4,500 to 5,000 catalysts, an initiative that will cut our diesel consumption with 8-10%. |
| Uninor is also planning to deploy diesel generators that directly provide stable DC power, eliminating the need for inefficient AC to DC conversion devices at base station sites. This will give lower fuel consumption and a reduced number of fuel filling cycles (less transportation of fuel) at remote locations. |
| All anchor sites (single-tenant sites) in the Uninor network will be fitted with DC diesel generators. This will give a 40% efficiency effect, reducing emissions from these sites. |
| Pilot project: Uninor is running pilot projects for solar-powered base stations. Powered by renewable energy, these base stations will be able to significantly reduce their need to run diesel generators for stable service. At present, Uninor has two pilot projects in operation. Based on the experiences from these pilots, further implementation will be evaluated. |
| Smart base stations |
| Uninor has one of India’s most modern and advanced GSM networks. With the most recent technology present in our shelters, and without unnecessary legacy systems needed to keep older networks running, we already have one of the most energy efficient networks in India. Our modern equipment also allows us to deploy intelligent power management solutions minimizing the energy consumption of our network equipment when idle. When transceivers are inactive, i.e. when the radio equipment in a particular base station is not carrying any traffic, they will automatically shut down. This facility contributes to cutting base stations’ power consumption by 2-3%. |
| These smart energy management features do not affect the coverage or the quality of the Uninor network: as soon as a call is initiated, transceivers are instantly turned into active mode, and the call is set up. |
Don’t have a Uninor connection yet? |
| Click on the links below to locate a Uninor store nearest to you or get in touch with us through the website. |
| |