MTN, which has participated in the Carbon Disclosure Project
(CDP) for the past three years and has steadily
improved the levels of transparency of its greenhouse-gas
emissions, as its CDP scores show, plans
to function completely independently of Eskom power in due course,
says Willem Weber, the telecommunications group's
senior manager for mechanical and electrical infrastructure.
A successful example of MTN's progress in this regard is the 2MW
tri-generation project at its offices in Roodepoort.
This is the first project of its kind in Africa,Weber says, and
involves the generation of electricity from natural gas
and the production of hot and cold water by recovering the heat of
exhaust gases, water and oil from the
generating engines.
Tri-generation refers to the three ways in which energy is
obtained from the process, namely: electricity from
the combustion of the natural gas, hot water from the recovered
heat, and cold water produced by chillers that use
some of the recovered heat as a source of energy.
The gas comes from the Temane gas field in Mozambique and is
pumped through Sasol's pipeline to Egoli Gas in
Johannesburg and then to Roodepoort via the Egoli Gas network. The
cooled water is used in the MTN building's
air-conditioning system.
MTN spent about R22m on the project and hopes to recoup R12m of
this money through the carbon credits earned from the
project. MTN started planning the project in 2008 and registered it
at the UN Clean Development Mechanism by 2010.
Weber says they were fairly surprised when the UN told them
there's no methodology for the specific kind of project they
were planning and thatMTN had to devise a methodology by itself and
then reapply.The project was finally approved, and
MTN recently even obtained a buyer for its carbon credits - French
energy company EDF, which bought up in advance all the
carbon credits the project will earn over the next eight years.
MTN is now working on a similar project at its Centurion
offices, and it plans to earn credits with that too.
In terms of the current rules of the UN's Framework Convention on
Climate Change, the project must be registered
before the end of next year.
Another way that MTN is reducing its carbon footprint is the 21
base stations it put up in the Northern Cape,
which function completely independently of the Eskom power
grid.Weber says this decision arose partly out of the
problems that Telkom is experiencing with the theft of copper wire
in the area. No sooner had they replaced the
stolen cable, than it was stolen again. In this sparsely populated
area, it was simply not cost-efficient to replace.
MTN started determining whether a wireless communications
infrastructure would perhaps be a better option and then
decided to build the 21 base stations in the Northern Cape to run
solely on solar or wind power, whichever was applicable.
Initially a hydrogen fuel cell was installed as a back-up power
source, but it was soon discovered that the solar power
was sufficient.
Weber says the base stations are already making a real
difference in the region and are promoting economic activity
Where
guest farms in the Kalahari for example had previously kept a
reservation book in Upington where people had to phone
in their reservations and the guest-farmowners only found out what
their reservations looked like when they drove to
Upington once in a while, they can now receive phone calls directly
on their farms. Evenpeople in the remote settlement
of Riemvasmaak now have cellphone reception.
Weber says initially theft of the solar panels was a problem. In
some cases, the solar panels were stolen within
two weeks of being installed. But new technology these days allows
for flexible solar panels - designed by solar power
technology group SolarWorld - tobe glued to steel plates, and these
have so far not been stolen.
Weber admits that theft is undoubtedly a greater problem in more
densely populated areas, like KwaZulu-Natal, and
then the solar panels aren't even stolen for their"proper purpose".
It was found that people were using the stolen
solar panels as doors or coffee tables.
In addition, MTN has a number of other projects where renewable
energy will be used. One is a 300 kW wind turbine for its
exchange in Port Elizabeth. Another is the use of biofermentation
agents to convert plant material into biogas to
drive generators.
Weber explains that the group wants to focus on local solutions
- in Port Elizabeth, for example, the focus is on
wind power and in Nelspruit, where there's an abundance of
macadamia shells, they are considering using them as the
raw material for biofermentation.
MTN's vision of independence from the power grid is naturally
also driven by the need to cut operating costs, of which
electricity is becoming an increasing portion.
