The telecommunications company, Telecel Faso, which has contracted the plants, has until now used diesel-powered telecommunications plants so far. This project is Phaesun’s first in this landlocked West-African country, one of the poorest on the continent.
It has been calculated that “Telecel will save more than €30,000 by using solar power, as compared to the diesel-driven plants, and around 184 tonnes of carbon dioxide annually”, explains Phaesun employer, Amar Chikha, who is helping build the plant.
The high acquisition costs will have already paid for themselves after two to three years, since maintenance and diesel supply are time-consuming and expensive due to long transportation distances. The solar plants are, in contrast, equipped with a remote monitoring system and are practically maintenance free. Each system consists of 108 monocrystalline solar modules from ET Solar, batteries from Hoppecke and charge controllers, which were developed especially for telecommunication systems and are particularly suitable for hot regions. Each system has a total output of 9.18 kilowatts.
The first plant went on line on 16 February, after taking five days to install. Phaesun has trained around 30 engineers, technicians and installers from Telecel Faso and Ikratos Africa on location to carry out the subsequent installations. “For large projects we always install the first plant ourselves according to our quality standards and then give our know-how to our partners on location,” says Chikha. Further solar plants have already been planned, as Telecel Faso plans to increase the network coverage to 100 percent as well as to replace all of the previously installed diesel generators with solar plants.
Headquartered in Memmingen, Phaesun GmbH has specialised in the sales, service and installation of off-grid PV and wind energy systems ever since it was founded in 2001. As one of the leading international system integrators of off-grid energy plants, Phaesun offers products from all well-known manufacturers in this sector. International project management, targeted customer training and technical support complement their range of services. Phaesun has branch offices in Eritrea and Panama, as well as a world-wide sales and distribution network.
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