Technology is changing rapidly for wireless, significantly changing the power requirements of the 6000+ base stations within our Kenyan Telcos infrastructure. These improvements increase the viability of using eco-friendly power and our Telcos have already seen this trend of IoT and are engaged in efforts to stop the trend of rising telecom energy demands. With so many options for reducing their eco-footprint, and considering the challenge of implementing changes while remaining profitable, planning a sensible, ecologically friendly path forward is often a formidable task. It is for this reason that I chose to take an opportunity to write to the power departments in our communication institutions which I have gracefully worked with for close to 3 years indirectly as an engineer assigned to do electrical and computational works for them.

The4G+ as an already laid out plan by one of the major Telcos within our country serves as an example which is a really good move that comes with growth of bandwidth demand which can easily cause Safaricom network  energy  consumption to  rise  in  step  with  the growth. The resulting increase in electricity costs leads to reduced margins at a time when competition is also driving prices down-the relauch of Telkom Kenya a few days ago marks a threat in the same regard. Having worked closely with a number of power departments amongst the Telcos we have, I have seen and learnt two options used when planning to reduce power consumption.  First, there are new network architectures that are inherently more energy-efficient and which can simultaneously provide the flexibility to support continued increases in demand. Second, choices in network equipment, options, and support equipment for new or existing infrastructure have also had a tremendous impact on the amount of power consumed. Both options are quite viable and should be part of any power reduction plan even as we leap into the digital disruptive era in the coming years.

Am grateful to have worked indirectly with the engineers at both power and optimization departments and have been able to tap a lot of skills in my area of expertise and personal growth as well. I look forward for an opportunity to present my ideas (a combo mixture of Artificial intelligence, big data analytics and IoT) as well as deliberate further on how best can power can be planned and supported to attain the ultimate goal in energy efficiency. Am also grateful to Parastatals that deal directly and indirectly with power and energy distribution for the nifty work they are putting across to solve the trilemma of cost, reliability and quality of power being used in our republic.

Below is a recap article of the latest bell lab power technical journal 2017 edition that I saw it prudent to share as well with other engineers and stakeholders in power & energy sector alike whom I revere and hold atmost respect for the trainings and lessons I have gained from them.

Methodology for Planning Energy-Reducing

The methodology for planning network changes to reduce energy usage consists of three cascading steps:

•        Energy consumption hierarchy. Identification of the network elements that consume power and their location in the network.

•        Energy-saving chain. Identification of network element dependencies upon each  other’s  power  dissipation (e.g.,  larger  air  conditioning units  having  higher energy   consumption are  necessary if inefficient power   rectifiers   are   installed  because  of  the energy  they  waste  through heat  radiation).  This allows network operators to target the most effective points for energy reduction by applying energy-saving initiatives.

•        Energy-saving initiatives or options. Determination of specific choices or actions  that  can be taken to reduce energy  consumption for one or more  net- work elements (e.g., replacing low-efficiency rectifiers with high-efficiency rectifiers, which requires capital  and  installation expense,  but these  expenses may be offset in 12 to 15 months based  on  today’s  high  energy  costs).  Sets of initiatives are often deployed simultaneously due to typically lower installation costs as compared to deploying the initiatives one at a time

As we continue improving our communication systems across the country and beyond, lets research and read widely for the upcoming 4^th industrial revolution which in my own view will be sparked and born here in Africa and hopefully in our dear motherland Kenya.

“A powered nation is a growing nation”~Samwel Kariuki