Solar and Wind Power for Comunications Systems

A problem ofteni encountered in setting up radio relay and fibre optic transnmission links is the lack of a commercial power supply network to power the repeater staions. In such situations it is necessary to provide a self-contained power supply adapted to conditions in the particular country. For stations with a high power requirement it is usual to employ conventional systems, i.e. dual or triple diesel power plants with rectifiers and batteries. For stations wlhere access is difficult, e.g. in mountainous or desert regions, or for low-power stations, however, increasing use is being made of solar and wind energy. <1> Fig 1 Power Supply systems utilizing exlusively wind and/or solar energy can be set up in many parts of the world with excellent overall cost-effectiveness. Especially a combination of the two primary energy sources depending on the right power requirement and geographical location has proven advantageous. For many years Siemens has been supplying installations of this kind for powering communication systems.