Community Power – Using Mobile to Extend the Grid
The GSMA Green Power for Mobile programme has published a new white paper today called ‘Community Power – Using Mobile to Extend the Grid’.
A significant opportunity exists to provide environmentally sustainable energy to people in the developing world who live beyond the electricity grid. And it is the mobile telecoms industry – which has already brought phones beyond the fixed telecoms grid - which holds the key to this next infrastructure innovation.
The opportunity exists for mobile network operators to provide electricity beyond the base station and into local communities, a phenomenon which the GSMA Development Fund calls “Community Power”.
Mobile network operators are trialling different approaches: at a minimum, operators can provide excess power to the community for small needs like charging up mobile handsets, large household batteries and rechargeable lanterns. At a maximum, the consistent power requirements of a mobile base station provide a stable “anchor” demand for a bigger investment by a third party company in a village energy system, powering both the base station as well as local homes and businesses.
The GSMA forecasts that there is potential for 200,000 Community Power projects worldwide, which could provide sustainable electricity to 120 million people.
Please, refer to the following chapters for information related to renewable energy and some case studies in East Africa.
Chapter 2, page 22: Availability of Renewable Energy Resources
Chapter 4, page 47: The Community Power Opportunity in East Africa.
The white paper is available online: Community Power - Using Mobile to Extend the Grid
