Safaricom
Kenya gets greener with alternative energy
Kenya’s leading operator, Safaricom, adopts an energy solution combining wind, solar power, and diesel
not only to fill the power shortage plaguing Kenya’s mobile communications networks, but also to fulfill
its social responsibility for environmental protection.
By Xu Lixing & Pan Tao
Editor: Pan Tao pantao@huawei.com
Win-Win / JUN 2009
38
Winners
The adoption of alternative energy allowed Safaricom
to expand its business in the off-grid areas, and at the
same time, reduce energy-related costs.
K
enya is famed for the Masai Mara Game
Drive Reserve, which embodies the
world’s largest wildlife protection zone
and glories as the backdrop of myriad
National Geographic photos. As one of Africa’s most
popular tourist resorts, Kenya has received much
attention from both the Kenyan government and the
international community. Safaricom as the largest
operator in Kenya has been trying to maximize its
contribution to environmental protection while
maintaining its dominant position in east and
central Africa.
Seeking a green energy
Safaricom’s network features 1,700 base stations
that cover 80% of the Kenyan population with a
range of voice and data products and services. These
base stations are distributed not just in large cities
such as Mombasa and Kenya’s capital, Nairobi, but
also in the remote northern and eastern areas of the
country, including rural and mountainous areas.
Due to an incomplete power supply infrastructure, electricity coverage in Kenya is relatively
low. Many areas have no electricity supply, with
the coverage rate in rural areas reaching just 30%.
This inhibits the development of a full telecom
infrastructure in rural areas and roads. Around 25%
of Safaricom’s base stations depend solely on diesel
generators to supply power. Some areas are covered
by power grids but suffer frequent power failures,
meaning that the affected base stations are forced to
rely on diesel generators for power supply most of
the time.
39
Safaricom previously used 1,500 diesel generators
to generate power for its base stations, which failed
to conform to Kenya’s environmental protection
policy and also incurred high maintenance and
refilling costs.
At the GSMA World Mobile Congress 2009,
CEO of Safaricom, Michael Joseph remarked,
“We spent a lot of money on diesel, not just diesel
itself, but also on the logistics of its supply. We
have something like a hundred tankers running
continuously across the country to top up our
sites. It’s extremely expensive.” Moreover, theft and
adulteration of diesel often occur on the way to or
during refilling. To provide communications services
for fishermen at sea, Safaricom extended its network
to cover some isolated islands far from the shore.
Unfortunately, diesel generators on these islands
cannot be refilled in time.
Safaricom urgently needed a new energy source to
reconstruct old sites, build new ones, reduce OPEX,
and improve network stability. Safaricom began
seeking a green energy solution as early as 2003.
The green practice
Located in a tropical monsoon zone, most of
Kenya enjoys a tropical, savanna climate. With
average altitudes ranging from 1500m to 1700m,
Kenya is rich in wind and solar energy resources.
As a result, Safaricom decided to utilize these
sustainable natural resources to construct a green
communications network.
To help Safaricom utilize the alternative energy,
Huawei proposed a site energy solution that
Win-Win / JUN 2009
combines wind power, solar energy, and diesel
generators. Solar energy and wind power provide a
stable and reliable power supply for base stations,
with the original diesel generators retained to back
up the solution. The two natural energy sources
complement each other to yield a consistent power
supply both day and night and during the rainy
and dry seasons to deliver unparalleled coverage
and optimal resource utilization. Retaining the
diesel generators adds flexibility, and further
guarantees an unbroken power supply. In this
way, the new green solution erases the problem of
electricity provision across the extended network
and significantly reduces OPEX.
A Masai habitation 50km from Nairobi was the
first Safaricom site reconstructed with the Huawei
complementary energy solution. This area is not
covered by power grids and local residents use
small wind turbines to generate electricity for light.
The previous dual diesel generators deployed by
Safaricom consumed too much diesel and required
extensive maintenance, which raised costs to an
unsustainable level. Furthermore, the gases emitted
were highly polluting.
After site renovation, test data from a trial run
indicated that the diesel generators now run just
1.32 hours per day on average, and that diesel
consumption was reduced by over 95%, which in
turn reduced fuel transportation and maintenance
costs by more than 90%.
Having visited the reconstr ucted site at
the Masai habitation, the Safaricom CTO
enthusiastically welcomed the reduced OPEX
and carbon emissions, and praised the solution as
a good choice for Safaricom to expand network
coverage to remote areas.
Faith in going green
The adoption of alternative energy allowed
Safaricom to expand its business in the off-grid
areas, and at the same time, reduce energy-related
costs. This has effectively consolidated the leading
position of Safaricom in the Kenyan telecom market,
and augments communications convenience and
reliability for local people and visitors.
In some areas, solar and wind energy alone is
sufficient to provide enough electricity for base
stations, and sometimes generates surplus electricity.
Safaricom fully utilizes the surplus energy by sharing
it with the local community, who use it to charge
their mobile phones. Safaricom has also built
Internet cafes to bring even greater convenience for
local people. At the same time, people who benefit
from Safaricom’s surplus electricity have voluntarily
assumed the role of “energy guards” to ensure that
equipment such as solar panels are not stolen.
After seeing the benefits, Safaricom is ready to
further explore the green energy field. Mr. Joseph
expressed his strong faith in going green, “We will
deploy alternative, green energy where we need it
now. Kenya has many sites that are off the national
grid. Even though we’re on-grid, we will also deploy
alternative energy as well to realize economic
benefits.” He then added, “The largest challenge of
green energy is the high CAPEX arising from initial
installation. Although the costs of building a green
base station are higher than those of a traditional
base station, this shall drop over the long term.”
Win-Win / JUN 2009
40