5G is Power Hungry

A 5G base station is generally expected to consume roughly 3 times as much power as a 4G base station. And more 5G base stations are needed to cover the same area.

While in grid connected sites you just need an upgrade of primary power, at off-grid and bad-grid it will required more complex and costly upgrades.

Source: GSMA Report

Let's look at the power consumption without 5G. Mobile consumes 1% of the world's energy.

From an operation point of view, approximately 3% or 600 TWh (Terawatt-hour) of the total worldwide electrical energy is consumed by information and communication technology (ICT). By the end of 2030, this number is expected to grow to 1700 TWh.

Detailed insight into the energy consumed to operate mobile telephony services reveals that only around 10% of the entire consumption is associated with the end-user equipment, while the remaining 90% is taken up by net-work components , of which around two thirds is used by the base stations (BSs).

Herein, the total electric energy consumed by telecommunications equipment is estimated at one third that of information and communications technology's (ICT's), or roughly 1% of the world's total electricity consumption.

Representing the strongest branch of the telecommunication sector, mobile telephony is responsible for half of its consumption.

5G’s Waveform Is a Battery Vampire

A 5G base station is generally expected to consume roughly 3 times as much power as a 4G base station. And more 5G base stations are needed to cover the same area.

Tower companies need to smart up fast.

Mobile Network Operators (MNOs) will farm out the additional power consumption required by 5G. First the NFV and cloud based core, will save the mobile operators costly upgrades. Second the functionalities done at the access sites will force the tower companies to bear the brunt of the power plants upgrades.

While equipment swaps for 3G and 4G usually required just adding a couple of rectifiers units, expanding of batteries and a few circuit breakers, the 5G power upgrades will be major, affecting the whole power plant.

Let's go back to when fuel was expensive and the GSMA and the MNOs considered solar power to cut OPEX. That green fervor, as soon as the price of oil collapsed mid 2014.

Now with 5G, it is time to pull from their drawers the plans for solar power for your base stations.

Solar is mature today.

In the last 6 years the solar industry matured. Solar PV prices are down. There are skilled technicians. There are contractors and designers available.

And that star, at the center of the Solar System is still bombing the earth with energy

The MNOs that own towers and tower companies should start looing into solar power to its off-Grid and Bad Grid today.

About the author

I cover the impact of new mobile technology deployment on existing infrastructure

Presently working with MNOs and Tower companies to deploy solar solutions

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