Wind, Solar & Biofuels to Power Remote Cell Towers

tcd004 writes "How do you set up a cell network when there's no power grid? Namibia, India and Nigeria are building towers using localized power sources to provide critical cell phone access to the most remote parts of their countries. Wind/solar hybrids, and biofuel power plants will power the radio towers, peripheral communications, and even the protective fencing around the installations."

Comments

Re:what do you call cell towers powered by water?

[dbIII]

plus perhaps nuclear to handle our other uses (it's the closest thing to nonpolluting we have that is capable of producing power 24/7

I've heard cheap nuclear is just around the corner, wake me up when somebody actually invests enough to build a prototype of such a thing. Until then we have to use something else - and solar is real and cheap in small remote installations where you don't want the hassle of shipping in fuel. Plus most of the energy consuption is going to be in daylight in this situation.

Bringing nuclear into the argument in this situation is either utterly stupid (nuclear fuel sources for sattellites may be the right size for this installion - but they are expensive) or blatantly partisan. Just becuase electricity was mentioned does not suddenly make nuclear electricity generation relevant to the discussion.