The Tower and Infrastructure Providers Association (TAIPA) has requested the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) to revise its targets for implementation of hybrid solutions at telecom tower sites. The industry associated has cited technical and operational challenges as well as massive investment requirements to the tune of Rs 660 billion by 2020 for meeting the targets. TAIPA has thus stated that the telecom sector’s targets for carbon emission reduction should be unique to Indian conditions.
The green telecom policy requires mobile operators to reduce diesel consumption and run 50 per cent of their towers in rural areas and 20 per cent in urban areas on hybrid power by 2015. And by 2020, the tower companies will need to operate 75 per cent and 33 per cent of their towers in rural and urban areas respectively on hybrid power solutions, which have been defined as a mix of grid power and renewable energy based on solar, wind, biomass or fuel cells. Presently, less than one per cent of India?s telecom towers run on green energy solutions.
TAIPA is of the opinion that currently there is an absence of ecosystem for reliable renewable energy technologies or solar solution providers for telecom towers. Therefore, there is a need for viability gap funding (VGF) for solar power technology to gain traction in the telecom industry. The Department of Telecommunications has been making efforts on the same as it has approached the Ministry of Finance to provide VGF to telecom operators and tower companies to help them meet their green energy targets mandated by the government.
