Earlier this year Greenpeace in its report “Dirty Talking A case for telecom sector to shift from diesel to renewable”, highlighted the aggressive exploitation of diesel by the sector, as the second largest consumer, resulting in a loss of over Rs. 2600 crore to the state exchequer annually.
It’s been over 3 months since the Bharti Airtel led Cellular Operators Association of India (COAI) failed to deliver on its commitment by coming up with a clear roadmap for the disclosure and progressive reduction of emissions by September 20114” said Mrinmoy Chattaraj, Climate and Energy Campaigner, Greenpeace India.
Concerned over the increasing exploitation of the diesel subsidy by the profit making telecom sector, representatives from across the political spectrum, have urged the government to take measures to accelerate a shift away from diesel and to renewable sources and technologies.These include members of parliament, cutting across party lines, including members of the standing committees for Energy, communication & Information Technology and Environment & Forest.
In their letters to the Prime Minister Dr. Manmohan Singh and the Communication &Information Technology Minister Mr. Kapil Sibal, and through parliamentary engagement, the politicians have specifically raised the need for substantially reducing the consumption of diesel by the telecom sector, especially in their network tower operations. They have further stressed on mandating the public disclosure of emissions and the establishment of the progressive emission reductions plans within the ambit of the newly proposed National Telecom Policy.
Rajeev R December 19, 2011 at 7:55 pm
It is a matter of concern that most people who commented as well as GreenPeace is totally ignorant about the Electricity supply situation in India. The fact is that Diesel power was/ is never a preferred energy solution in Indian telecom sector for the obvious reasons viz, A. Capital Investment on Diesel Genset is an additional burden, B. Operation and Maintenance expenditure is high due to rising cost on manpower and fossil fuels,C.Per KWh cost of Electricity is around Rs.16/- compared to grid power @ Rs 7/- to Rs.10/-& D. It is not a clean source of energy.
But, in a country without adequate electric power and erratic power supply, DG sets are the only viable solution and hence a necessary. Hope Green Peace would force the government to improve Electric Power generation and distribution network rather than blaming telecom companies, which are almost on the verge of collapse due to the rising operating costs and falling revenues. AND Solar energy is still not a viable option for energy backup. However recent technological advancements offer rays of hope.
sushant December 18, 2011 at 10:31 am
deploying solar cells to power mobile bts is not feasible in cities due to space constraints,it might be used in rural areas but installation costs are a deterrent, govt. should come up with USO funded pilot projects to do the same,also govt. should see that operators get electric connection on priority basis,i have seen mobile bts running without electricity for years on diesel due to lethargic behavior electric supply companies,lastly operators should use good battery backup so that they don’t have to use generators frequently.
Agnivo December 18, 2011 at 2:56 am
Renewable (solar)? Costly to implement, certain lifetime for panels etc… also environmental factors contributing to amount of power generation and accessory (batteries, etc) cost… viable? Else, we could have had acres of solar farms instead of polluting thermal power stations by now… Even many people are not backing nuclear power plants… India will be India… you know they run agricultural diesel pumps by mustard oil sometimes???
Pratik December 18, 2011 at 12:54 am
I say convert all cell sites to solar power.
Environmental conscious as well as money saving in long term.
Saptarshi Roy December 17, 2011 at 11:36 pm
@debasish
+1
debasish December 17, 2011 at 11:05 pm
it should be implemented as soon as possible….