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Fuel Cells Promise To Reduce Carbon Emissions of Mobile Base Stations
Mickeycaskill writes: Vodafone says fuel cells could reduce the carbon emissions and noise pollution caused by mobile base stations in remote areas of developing economies. The company has 122 million mobile data customers in emerging markets and needs to expand its network in these countries to meet demand. However many base stations are in rural areas where grid power is unreliable and need on-site power generation. These are typically diesel powered, but Vodafone wants to move away from this type of power and says solar power is too expensive and not suitable for urban areas. It has already deployed 200 fuel cells in South Africa and wants to replicate the model elsewhere.
The article says the justification for fuel cells is because grid power isn't reliable in rural areas. Fine, that makes sense. But the justification for using solar is that it's not suitable for urban areas. I'm confused why the power grid isn't good enough in urban areas while using solar for base stations in rural areas. Am I missing something? Also, why not use wind energy and mount turbines on the towers in rural areas to provide additional power?