Orange to exploit first 'solar' base station in Armenia

Orange started exploiting the first base station in Armenia, operating exclusively with solar energy. The first fully "solar" base station of Armenia has been constructed in the Syunik region, at approximately 3km from Lichk village, not far from the road to Meghri, according to a press release by Orange.

The station does not have any alternative supply source like other base stations, which if necessary, use energy network and fuel. Solar-powered station is not only ecologically clean and energy and cost-efficient, but also is completely self-controlled, and can be built in areas far from infrastructures, in particular from sources of energy.

The construction of the "solar" station is the result of cooperation of Orange with French Tenesol Company. Orange solar project has been launched in 2007 in Senegal, under the supervision of Jean-Marie Garcia, the actual CTO of Orange Armenia. Since then, this solution has been implemented in 13 countries within the group's footprint: 900 solar base stations are already built.

Jean-Marie Garcia, Orange Armenia CEO, said: "Boosting of use of renewable energy sources is one of the prior directions of corporate social responsibility strategy of the Orange Group in the world. This base station is a combination of the most modern telecommunication technologies and solar technologies and is the first base station in Armenia completely independent from other energy sources. The objective of Orange "solar program" is to design and deploy innovative engineering solutions aimed at developping sustainable products with a preference to renewable energy."

For every solar BTS used, at least 35 tons of CO2 and 13,000 litres of fuel are expected to be saved per annum. The Orange solar base station development program is the most iconic part of a wider green strategy committed to achieving 20% reduction of CO2 emissions by 2020 and 15% reduction of the company's energy consumption.

For this project Orange and Tenesol were in 2010 awarded with the Global Telecoms Business Innovation Awards - the most prestigious innovation prize in the field of telecommunications for "Green power innovation".