Infocomm bets big on wind, solar power

The attempt is to ensure uninterrupted power supply for its network.

Reliance Infocomm is planning to tap alternative sources of energy "" wind and solar power "" in an attempt to tide over power outages and ensure uninterrupted power supply for its network.

The telephony major has completed the test phases of the alternative power projects near Dugrapur in West Bengal and intends to install them at other locations across the country.

Confirming the development, Reliance Infocomm Head (Wireless Network) Arun Sur said, "This is perhaps the first time that a telecom company has tapped the twin sources of alternative energy. The Durgapur experiment has proved to be a success and we are happy that the environment-friendly project has come in handy for us."

The company intends to set up solar panels and wind turbines across those circles where power failures are frequent. At present, Reliance Infocomm uses diesel generators on an average of eight hours a day during power grid outages.

This will also be beneficial for the company as it is expanding its network to cover 5,700 towns and cities and four lakh villages in the country. Sur neither revealed the investment expected to roll out the project across all circles in the country, nor the areas that had been shortlisted for this.

The private telephony major had set up its solar power pilot projects at Kunustara and Murugathal near Durgapur and used it to power the company's repeater sites.

The units generate 1,800 watt of power each during peak sunshine hours, of which the repeater sites consume up to 500 watt each. The remaining 1,300 watt are stored in batteries and used to power the network at bad sunlight hours, and during the night.

The company has also installed its wind turbines at Kunustara and Murugathal on an experimental basis. The units have been installed to generate additional power, particularly during monsoons and when sunlight is scarce.

"The area is blessed with winds. The wind turbines have been fixed onto the repeater towers and this method saves us the cost of erecting poles," Sur said.

Reliance Infocomm has also installed monitoring equipment to check the effectiveness of the solar and wind modules.