MTN SA Drives Off-Grid Renewable Energy Innovation With Launch Of Integrated Wind And Solar Hybrid Project
MTN SA Drives Off-Grid Renewable Energy Innovation With Launch Of Integrated Wind And Solar Hybrid Project. In a major move to unlock off-grid, clean and reliable energy alternatives, MTN South Africa has launched the first in a series of projects in an integrated wind and solar renewable energy generation rollout as part of its Net Zero efforts.
Hybrid renewable energy systems provide green energy to power assets sustainably, reducing reliance on unstable grids and the carbon-emitting fuels that are driving global warming. The launch forms part of a 6-month plan with completion targeted for the third quarter of the year, with a small-scale field trial in Worcester in the Western Cape. It will be followed by a series of projects in the Eastern Cape, which is a proven geographic destination for wind energy.
The solution avoids the need to work with complicated masts, guy wires, or towers and the windmills being used can be installed at various levels of a cell tower to harness more wind energy. “MTN continues to harness best-in-breed technologies to ensure we drive sustainable solutions across our network. Innovation in generating green energy is critical in achieving MTN Net Zero goals as we move towards fulfilment of our Ambition 2025 strategy,” says Charles Molapisi, CEO of MTN SA.
A standout feature of this project is the seamless integration with MTN SA telecommunication equipment to provide hybrid renewable energy generation for Base Transceiver Station (BTS) sites and other asset classes with low workload. By substituting fossil fuel-fed run time with alternative energy, a further benefit is that there will be a reduction in the amount of diesel burnt per site by reducing generator run hours. It also increases power security per site, mitigating the effects of loadshedding in line with MTN’s plans to bolster network resilience, with properly sized hybrid, wind, solar photovoltaic (PV) panels, and battery arrays.
