A nationwide Libyan programme to get people talking across its vast expanses is set to revolutionise lives and infinitely speed modernisation of outlying regions.
Sollatek (UK) is the key to this major initiative, recently winning an important tender against fierce global competition, to supply and install solar power generators for 61 Libyan sites. Covering an area of over 2 million square km. Sollatek’s pioneering role in Libya’s telecommunications systems began in 1993 with 22 solar power microwave repeater sites replacing diesel generators, boosting efficiency of the telecommunications backbone exponentially. Simultaneously, Sollatek’s Libya office was established, to ensure efficient installation and after-sales service. Another eight sites followed in 1999 with a further 34 in 2001.
A new feature from Sollatek is a web-based control console. Delivering major time and cost saving benefits, it allows control of all 61 sites from a single location, anywhere in the world.
Design Life
The solar modules have a design life of over 25 years, the batteries giving excellent service for 15 years. Thus the effective running costs are negligible, especially as no routine maintenance is required.
Heat Considerations – Passive Cooling Shelters
Because it wouldn’t be cost-effective to use air-conditioning equipment within each GSM site due to the required solar array, a novel approach is employed in the Libyana telecom operator’s systems. A passive cooling shelter (PCS) exchanges the coolness of the night with the heat of the day. Therefore water is cooled at night through a heat exchanger and then used to cool the equipment at night. Even an extreme case of night temperature 23ºC/ day temperature 50ºC, translates to maximum temperature for GSM equipment of 37ºC, which is well within its operating parameters.
Sollatek also recently installed a large rural electrification system for a community in the Sahara Desert (Wadi Marseet) fine-tuning transmission to homes. In these ways, the company achieves great awareness at grassroots level; Sollatek’s work in Libya is a reference point for other African countries. Seeking to invest in solar power, they now see, through Sollatek, solar power as a reliable, low maintenance energy option enhanced by the attentive customer care of a local Sollatek office. Libya’s climatic conditions and sheer scale make solar power the intelligent solution to its global systems for mobiles (GSM) sites. Libya now leads other oil producing countries in the quest to use surplus funds to develop this efficient green energy. For Libya it means a future when it will be able to use its investment to generate electricity at practically negligible day-to-day cost.
For more information on Sollatek products and solutions visit: http://www.sollatek.com
