Pannon Installs Solar Panels to Run Transmission Tower

Press release
Fornebu
2 minute read
Telenor's Hungarian mobile operation Pannon has installed a solar collector equipped base station in the town of Baracska. The 17 solar cell panels provide 50 per cent of the energy required to run the transmission tower.

On Earth Day in April 2008, Pannon announced its goal to decrease operations related Co2 emissions by 24 per cent within the year 2011. The network infrastructure is responsible for a major part of the company's energy consumption. Hence, the installation of solar energy powered base stations is one of the first steps towards fulfilling that commitment.

Long-term environment commitment

"This move from Pannon is part of our long-term ambition to significantly reduce carbon-dioxide emissions from our activities," says CEO Ove Fredheim. "The key elements of our strategy are to decrease energy consumption, recycle mobile phones and network devices. In addition - the new Pannon Headquarters is unique in Hungary - as radical environmental considerations played a central role in the construction of the buildings."

Annual Co2 reductions

The solar cells will supply about half of the base station's annual consumption of 10-11 kWh. The nominal output of each of the 17 solar cell panels is 160 Wp. The installation of a base station like the one in Baracska will involve a 2.2 ton reduction of carbon-dioxide per year. Currently, the return on investments for solar energy powered transmission towers is slow, but as the price of energy increases, renewable energy sources are picking up interest.

Free air cooling systems

Since 2000, Pannon has gradually switched to what are known as free air cooling systems; these are presently used by 90 per cent of the transmission stations. The systems make it possible to decrease the energy consumption of air-conditioner units and consequently, reduce the level of Co2 emissions.