Ethio Telecom, in partnership with Huawei, has successfully completed the commercial deployment of Africa’s first Solar-on-Tower solution, marking a milestone in the country’s drive toward greener, low-carbon telecommunications infrastructure.
The new technology integrates photovoltaic panels directly onto telecom towers, addressing the challenges of limited land and insufficient space for solar installations in urban areas such as Addis Ababa. According to Ethio Telecom, the first batch of installations was operational within two days, allowing the sites to generate and consume their own solar power.
Initial results show that the Solar-on-Tower solution can sustain site operations for up to four hours on solar power, reducing diesel generator usage from six hours to two hours per day. This translates to a 40% reduction in fuel consumption per site.
Ethio Telecom said the deployment not only sets a new benchmark for clean energy adoption in African telecommunications but also provides a scalable solution for thousands of space-constrained sites across Ethiopia’s capital.
The company emphasized that the initiative forms part of its broader strategy to build a green network and promote the adoption of renewable energy in the ICT sector.
Looking ahead, Ethio Telecom and Huawei plan to continue their collaboration to expand Solar-on-Tower deployments, strengthen ICT energy infrastructure, and accelerate the sector’s transition toward low-carbon operations across Africa.
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