1. INTRODUCTION:

In India Six lakh telecom towers are being installed all over the country. They are using Diesel generators to provide power to these towers. The telecom companies are estimated to be the second-biggest consumers of Diesel in the country; behind only the Railways. Apart from leading to high carbon emission, diesel usage by telecom towers is also a big drain on the exchequer as the loss to the government on account of the cheaper fuel is pegged at over Rs.4,500 crore. Average fuel consumption by a single telecom tower is estimated at 8760 liter diesel annually, assuming 8 hours of operation by diesel generator sets. The total diesel usage by the telecom tower apparatus spread all over the country is pegged at 5.12 billion liters a year. The total carbon emission on account of Diesel usage by the telecom towers is estimated to be around 10 million tons of Carbon-dioxide (CO₂)[1].

Energy saving is a key sustainability focus for the Indian telecom industry today. This is especially true in rural areas where energy consumption contributes to 70% of the total network operating cost. In urban areas, the energy cost for network operation ranges between 15-30%. This expenditure on energy as a result of the lack of grid availability highlights a potential barrier to telecom industry growth, especially regarding the expansion of rural tele density which sits at 40.81% compared to tele density in urban areas of 146.15%[2].

It is estimated that in India almost 70% of telecom towers are located in areas with more than eight hours of grid outage and almost 20% are located in off-grid areas. This uncertainty in power availability has compelled infrastructure providers to use diesel generators to ensure a continuous supply of power. Annually more than 2.6 billion litres of diesel are consumed to operate telecom towers, resulting in the emission of 7 million metric tonnes of CO₂. Given the deregulation of diesel prices and the need to reduce carbon emissions, had equipped imperative for the industry to evaluate all alternative options in order to improve network operation and to reduce energy costs. Several efforts have been made to optimize energy costs, such as converting indoor base transceiver stations (BTS) to outdoor ones in order to eliminate air conditioning on site, installing energy-efficient equipment and also using clean energy sources to power the sites. Among them, using clean energy sources for power has the potential to resolve the three key needs of the telecom industry, namely: reduction in diesel usage; expansion of telecom infrastructure to off-grid areas; and reduction in carbon emissions. Clean-energy technologies are well supported by the Indian Government’s subsidy policy and technologies such as solar photovoltaic, wind turbines, biomass power and fuel cells have undergone trials at telecom sites with the majority of trials implemented with solar photovoltaic technology[3], [4].The Carbon footprint of the Indian Telecom Industry could be estimated based on the sum total of all CO2 emissions induced over a period of 1 year and by assessing the amount of power consumed[3].

1. 1 litre of petrol is equivalent to 2.3 kgs of CO₂

2. 1 litre of diesel is equivalent to 2.7 kgs of CO₂

3. 1 KWH of grid electricity is equivalent to 0.84 kg of CO₂

In recent years, the rise in the world’s average ambient temperature has become a matter of global concern, and is now recognized as one of the key challenges facing humanity. “Global warming”, “Climate Change”, “Greenhouse Effect” etc. are common expressions used to describe the threat to human and natural ecosystems resulting from enhanced emissions of heat trapping or greenhouse gases (GHGs) arising from the activities of humankind in an increasingly industrialized and globalizing world. These emissions are changing the composition of the atmosphere at an unprecedented rate. While the complexity of the global climate system makes it difficult to accurately predict the impact of these changes, the evidence from modeling studies as interpreted by the world's leading scientists assembled by the Intergovernmental Panel On Climate Change (IPCC), indicates that global mean temperature may increase by 1.4°C to 5.8°C, with a doubling of carbon dioxide concentrations, relative to pre-industrial levels; over the next 40 to 100 years. The magnitude of the predicted climate change, as well as the anticipated rate of this change, poses serious risks for human lifestyles as well as the global ecosystem.

Climate change and global warming is a phenomenon largely attributed to anthropogenic (human-caused) emissions of pollutants; particularly carbon-di-oxide (CO₂) that traps heat within the Earth's atmosphere. A substantial portion of these pollutant emissions have their origin in the combustion of fossil fuels. As the world's need for energy-based services increases, and in the absence of a significant transition to non-fossil energy sources, global temperature rises and its attendant impacts are expected to become increasingly pronounced over the coming decades.

The SWOT Analysis deliberates the potentials of renewable (solar photovoltaic technology) in establishing the Green Networks in Indian scenario. The overview of the solution configuration and the economic cases includes comparisons before and after the deployment of the solar photovoltaic solution. The challenges for large-scale, on ground adoption are also evaluated[5].

2. METHODOLOGY:

India has an area of 3.29 Mio.km² and is the 7th biggest country in the world. Sharing borders with India are Bangladesh, Bhutan, Myanmar, China, Nepal and Pakistan. Life forms from unicellular to Chenab multicellular and microscopic to gigantic sizes by the forests, deserts, Ravi mountains, other land, air and water provide shelter, food, medicine, fodder, fuel, clothing for our daily needs and raw material for industry. The Indo-Gangetic Plain occupies Chandigarh Dehradun most of northern, central, and eastern India, while the Deccan Plateau Darjeeling occupies most of southern India. To the west of the country is the Thar Desert, which consists of a mix of rocky and sandy desert. India’s east and northeastern border consists of the high Himalayan range[6].

2.1 Data Collection and Analysis:

The Indian Telecom industry contributes 3 % in the GDP (2010). Foreign direct investment has been one of the major contributors in the growth of the Indian economy, and therefore, the need for higher FDI is felt across sectors in the Indian economy. The telecom sector has played a crucial role in attracting FDI in India. India's telecom sector received US$ 1093 million in foreign direct investment (FDI) during the first quarter (April-November) of financial year 2010-2011[3], [7].

Today, telecom is the third major sector attracting FDI inflows after services and computer software sector. In the telecom sector, FDI up to 49% is allowed under automatic route and beyond that up to 74% is permitted through the Foreign Investment Promotion Board (FIPB), a government body. As per the current telecom services policy, the sector has 74% of equity on basic cellular, unified access services and other value-added services[8], [9]. India has proven its dominance as a technology solution provider. Efforts are being continuously made to develop affordable technology for masses, as also comprehensive security infrastructure for telecom network. Research is on for the preparation of tested infrastructure for enabling interoperability in Next Generation Network. Pilot projects on the existing and emerging technologies have been undertaken including WiMAX, 3G etc.

Table1.Geographic considerations of solar photovoltaic applications in India[10]

Month	Clearness Index	Average Radiation
Month	Clearness Index	(kWh/m2/day)
Jan	0.662	4.519
Feb	0.704	5.579
Mar	0.698	6.486
Apr	0.685	7.140
May	0.661	7.293
Jun	0.543	6.083
Jul	0.452	5.012
Aug	0.438	4.645
Sep	0.566	5.456
Oct	0.688	5.714
Nov	0.691	4.871
Dec	0.673	4.352

Source: Green Solutions for Telecom Towers: Part I Report

Emphasis is being given to technologies having potential to improve rural connectivity. Also to beef up R and D infrastructure in the telecom sector and bridge the digital divide, cellular operators, top academic institutes and the Government of India together set up the Telecom Centers of Excellence (COEs).Seven Centers of Excellences in various field of Telecom have been set up with the support of Government and the participation of private/public telecom operators as sponsors, at the selected academic institutions of India. The proposed benefits from the Research and Development (R and D) initiatives by the Government are:

1. Pre-eminence of India as a technology solution provider.

2. Comprehensive security infrastructure for telecom network.

3. Tested infrastructure for enabling interoperability in Next Generation Network.

To support Research and development in the country and promoting Startups focused on technology and innovation, a weighted deduction of 150% of expenditure incurred on in- house R and D is introduced under the Income Tax Ac. In addition to the existing scheme for funding various R and D projects have been funded through new scheme like Support International Patent Protection in Electronics and IT (SIP-EIT), Multiplier Grants Scheme (MGS). Geographic parameters including daily average energy incidents, the duration and availability of sunshine and also solar power density across different geographic locations, influence the scope of solar photovoltaic deployment. Table 3 provides facts on solar radiation in India[2][4].

Though government subsidies, lower interest rates on loans and the significant reduction in solar panel prices are encouraging, there are more challenges that need to be addressed including optimal solution design for various energy management scenarios, seamless integration with other renewable energy technology (RET) solutions and optimal configuration of solar photovoltaic panels as well as appropriate storage and space requirements[2], [3].

The table 2 shows solar photovoltaic deployment statistics by different telecom operators and infrastructure providers as of May 201316. A few recent examples/initiatives of solar photovoltaic adoption include Bharti Airtel’s plan for deploying 3000 solar photovoltaic sites, Idea Cellular’s intention for 200 solar hybrid installations and Vodafone’s target of deploying 150 solar photovoltaic sites (in addition to the 390 sites currently deployed by Vodafone)[1], [2], [7].

Table 2.Adoption of solar photovoltaic applications for telecom towers[11]

Company	Solar Towers
Bharti Infratel Ltd.	1350
Vodafone Essar	390
Idea Cellular	100
Indus Towers	650
GTL Infrastructure	80
Total	2570

The Indian government is taking a multifaceted approach to accelerate energy security and to reduce the country’s dependency on fossil fuels. A few of the solar initiatives by various government bodies are outlined below:

1. Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission (JNNSM)

This programme provides a comprehensive framework of solar power development in India. The Mission envisions 200 MW capacity of off-grid solar applications by the end of Phase-I (2013) and an overall installation of 2,200 MW by 2022. Under this scheme, systems of up to 100 kWp will receive funding support from the government.

2. Ministry of New and Renewable Energy (MNRE)

To encourage the usage of alternative and renewable energy sources, the MNRE provides the following support under the JNNSM scheme.The MNRE announced its support for 400 telecom towers using solar photovoltaic technology.TRAI’s mandate requires that telecom companies should use renewable sources of energy to power at least 50% of rural telecom towers and 20% of urban telecom towers by 2015. By 2020, the telecom companies have to convert 75% of rural towers and 33% of urban towers to run on hybrid power. The MNRE’s recent mandate to convert a minimum of 50,000 towers to solar photovoltaic technology immediately is another step towards ensuring compliance for the adoption of clean energy. Several proposals from the government have been rolled out for solar powered telecom sites such as Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited’s (BSNL’s) tender for 15 telecom towers in Bihar and the Department of Telecommunications’ proposal for 2,200 telecom towers for security networks[2], [7].

Table 3. Cost of Power for Various Renewable Energy Sources[10]

	Estimated initial capital cost ( in crore/ MW)	Estimated cost of electricity generation / kWh)
Small Hydro Power	5.50-7.70	3.54-4.88
Wind Power	5.75	3.73-5.96
Biomass Power	4.0-4.45	5.12-5.83
Bagasse Cogeneration	4.20	4.61-5.73
Solar Power	10.00-13.00	10.39-12.46

Source: http://data.gov.in

2.3 SWOT Analysis:

SWOT analysis may tend to persuade an organization to compile uncritical list rather than think about what is actually important in achieving objectives. For example, weak opportunities may appear to balance strong threats. The SWOT analysis can be first and foremost an instrument for reflection on the viability and future perspectives of any research idea or proposal. An important part of SWOT analysis is therefore the benchmark of the evaluation of viability of research theme in the international scientific arena. The intersections of the four dimensions Strength (S), Weakness (W), Opportunity (O), and Threat (T) serve as the basis for the formulation of future strategies[5]:

1. Strength and opportunities (SO): To use strengths to take advantage of these opportunities.

2. Strength and Threat (ST): To take advantage of strengths to avoid real and potential threats.

3. Weakness and Opportunities (WO): To use opportunities to overcome the weaknesses experienced in the research.

4. Weakness and Threats (WT): To minimize your weakness and avoid threats.

STRENGTH

WEAKNESSES

Opportunities

Strength: Instant access to research problems for global development.

Opportunity: Growing scientific and societal interest in geo-awareness.

Strategy: Organize one umbrella research theme where all disciplines can participate.

Weakness: Poor visibility of research themes in country.

Opportunity: Can contribute to international development agenda.

Strategy: Take initiative to join forces for expertise for global development

Threats

Strength: Directly applicable full spectrum Geo-Information science.

Threat: Geo-ICT is not valued by policy makers.

Strategy: Promote our science within country and abroad.

Weakness: A tension exists between the capacity mission and excellence in fundamental research.

Threat: Funding in future may disappear.

Strategy: Define relevant criteria for quality in capacity building and research and attract more diverse(private) funding

Scholars and organizations use different and various patterns to conduct a SWOT analysis based on purpose, intended scope and availability and type of data at hand[5].The four described combinations are as follows:

1. Maxi-maxi (S/O) - Striving to maximize organizational strengths to capitalize on new opportunities.

2. Maxi-mini (S/T) - In essence, an organization should strive to use its strengths to parry or minimize threats.

3. Mini-maxi (W/O) - This combination is an exertion to conquer the organization’s weakness by making the most of any new opportunities.

4. Mini-mini (W/T) - This combination shows the organization’s weaknesses by comparison with the current external threats. This is most definitely defensive strategy, to minimize an organization’s internal weaknesses and avoid external threats.

3. RESULTS AND DISCUSSIONS:

In general scenario, a typical telecom tower has an energy requirement in the range of 3-5 kW. Now a days various technology solutions are available for powering telecom towers, but success of each of the available technology depends on multiple factors like capital expenditure, operating cost, reliability etc. While there are complex technologies like fuel cells available, viability in Indian context becomes a question. In India, solar and wind have been widely used in various distributed generation applications and have been successful in the past.

Telecom towers powered by energy sources other than electricity board or diesel are slowly gaining prominence in India. Slowly telecom tower companies have now started adopting hybrid power sources to meet their energy demand. Telecom towers companies are increasingly looking at renewable energy as an intermediate solution which could help reduce dependence on liquid fuel. Some tower sites have successfully combined conventional and alternate energy to overcome the load shedding issues.

The telecom industry in India traditionally use grid power as the primary source and diesel generators as the secondary source, or as backup to grid power. The average load at a telecom site usually varies from 0.75 kW to 20 kW. Green Network Initiative may be a comprehensive energy-efficiency and alternate-energy program covering high impact initiatives, which are aimed at reducing the carbon footprint through lower and optimized diesel usage. These initiatives broadly comprise Alternate energy sources, Energy efficiency measures, Demand side management. Passive telecom infrastructure in India is dependent on diesel generators as the primary source of backup power, due to (a) poor grid supply, (b) no grid connectivity in rural areas and (c) low quality grid power. Recent developments in renewable energies might overthrow the diesel generator as the technology of choice for off-grid mobile base stations. Renewable energy has evolved considerably over the last couple of years so much. In this research article we have explored the potential that might tilt the balance in favor of telecom towers powered by renewable energy. SWOT Analysis were carried to predict the potentials of renewable in establishing the Green Networks in Indian scenario. The several parameters were taken into account for giving the final verdict for implementing the concept. Although the work was done on the secondary data (i.e. collected from different reports, online sources and surveys) to examine the applicability of Green Networks concept in Indian framework, but the method still needs to be refined with in situ data for the future studies.

Census of India 2011 report reveals the fact that the energy accessibility to household in India for the year 2004-05 and 2009-10 in the rural and urban areas has been meagre. There is lot In other words, we can assume that in total, there is an apparent gap between rural and urban access to household energy resources. Which impulses the apparent load on energy resources in urban areas and concurrently reducing the rural energy supply.

In connection to earlier discussed descriptions Figure 5. Illustrates about the estimated renewable energy potential in Mega-Watts (MW) for different varieties of the renewable energy types. The above histogram shows that solar power and wind power have the superior potential as the substitute to the conventional commercial energy for domestic and commercial usage. The facts about the conventional sources of energy also affirms that the serving potential of the major source of the energy production and its energy supply capability has to be also amplified in exponential form for the upcoming years. The commercial energy supply trends of domestic production, signals the fact about the conventional sources of energy that has exponential growth.

All above exhaustive illustrations embodies the factthat existing gap between the production, availability and consumption. It can be easily observed that sum total of production capacity and available energy stands to be insufficient for the required consumption. Numerically consumption is almost double of the sum total of the production and availability of energy. These also tell about the present status of required energy needs and these can be easily structured to form a relationship between these three. It asserts that the electricity, which is serving as the major source of the energy since years and will be continuing for several years also. In corresponding to these consumption trends signals the eminence of conventional energy and it have to be also stretched inline to the same depletion pattern.

4. CONCLUSIONS:

Renewable energy has evolved considerably over the last couple of years so much. In this editorial we have explored potential that might tilt the balance in favor of telecom towers powered by renewable energy. SWOT analysis envisages and supports the potentials of renewable in establishing the Green Networks in Indian scenario. The several parameters were taken into account for giving the final verdict for implementing the concept. Considering all the above discussed conditions and aspects we can resolve that the telecom industry in India traditionally used grid power as the primary source and diesel generators as the secondary source, or as backup to grid power. As rural areas of most of the states in India are grid power-deficient. Diesel generators being used recklessly day and night to power the cell phone towers are subsequently discharges immeasurable quantity of pollutants, hence the overwhelming need to take to renewable source of energy. In one of the fastest growing economy with swarming population like India is, we cannot assume sinking substantially the consumption of energy.

In upcoming days the consumption of energy will also grow hand in hand with the health of the economy under the circumstances we can at best motivate the important players in the telecommunication field to switch over to renewable source of energy as much as possible. Harnessing and using renewable energy being less expensive is the most dominant and motivating factor. There is need to routinely hold conferences and workshops not only to impress upon the need to go in for renewable energy but also to extract commitment of the vital players and monitor progress of its adoption. There is no gain saying that telecommunication gadgets are mostly not switched off by the consumers of all kinds who are availing unlimited service packages even when they temporarily or for some time do not need to work on them. By creating awareness among people to switch off such gadgets when there is no need to make use of them, we can reduce GHG emission considerably in view of more than 30 million internet connections across the country. Thus we can reduce consumption of energy as well. Usage/manufacturing of Green-Energy is to be dealt by concerned ministry because “Green” is not mere concept related to telecom industry. Whatever the measures directed through ministry is to be adopted by the Telecom Industry also, so uniform mechanism across various sectors’ can be possible w.r.t “Green Energy”

5. ACKNOWLEDGEMENT:

Authors are also thankful to the fellow researchers from the School of Earth Sciences, Central University of Karnataka for their support and encouragements. The first author expresses gratitude to the research grant received from DST-INSPIRE Division, Ministry of Science and Technology, Govt. of India for carrying out full time PhD research work.

6. REFERENCES:

[1] S. Bhandarkar and M. K. Mishra, “Green energy for Indian telecom towers,” J. Pet. Gas Explor. Res., vol. 4, no. 1, pp. 1–6, 2014.

[2] R. Krishna, “Green energy Technology (GET) for Telecom Applications.”

[3] H. Ikebe, N. Yamashita, and R. Nishii, “Green energy for telecommunications,” INTELEC 07 - 29th Int. Telecommun. Energy Conf., pp. 750–755, 2007.

[4] S. P. Applications, “Green Solutions for Telecom Towers : Part II,” 2013.

[5] N. Abubakar and G. B. Bello, “Strengths ,weaknesses , opportunities and threats (SWOT) analysis on globacom Ltd,” Int. J. Inf. Technol. Bus. Manag., vol. 16, no. 1, pp. 83–91, 2013.

[6] F. William, T. Park, and S. Sarovar, “Geography of india.”

[7] M. D. Bhawan, J. Lal, and N. Marg, “Telecom regulatory authority of India Consultation Paper On Green Telecommunications,” 2011.

[8] S. Kulkarni and A. K. Singh, “Green Telecom Towers – an attractive option for sustainable tomorrow.”

[9] W. Folkerts, N. Brizard, and P. Lako, “Techno-economic analysis of key renewable energy technologies ( PV, CSP and wind) Héctor Hernández and Alexander Tübke With contributions from:,” 2011.

[10] “Catalogs Open Government Data (OGD) Platform India.” [Online]. Available: http://data.gov.in/catalogs/keywords/solar-photovoltaic-pp-18455?query=photovoltaics. [Accessed:04-Sep-2014].

[11] I. Energy, “Green Solutions for Telecom Towers: Part I,” 2013.

Received on 08.06.2015 Modified on 16.06.2015

Research J. Science and Tech. 7(2): April-June, 2015; Page 125-132

DOI: 10.5958/2349-2988.2015.00017.0