Panasonic's Green Tower solutions offers energy cost savings for cell towers

BARCELONA, Spain -- Panasonic is using the Mobile World Congress 2016 to show off Green Tower, its new energy-as-a-service solution for cellular, Wi-Fi and two-way land mobile communications sites.

The idea is to reduce network outages due to power loss by adding a lithium ion battery, solar panels, and satellite communications for monitors and remote access capabilities. Panasonic estimates 80 percent to 85 percent of cell sites are reliant on power grids for energy and that Green Tower can provide for energy infrastructure beyond power grid availability.

The solution also promises to reduce site management costs associated with energy infrastructure and services while also providing more environmentally friendly energy options than diesel generators and lead acid batteries.

Green Tower is deployed at critical safety sites in Northern Europe, weak grid sites in Southeast Asia and grid connected sites in North America and Europe. Panasonic says the solution can expand deployment possibilities while offering support to traditional sites. Green Tower is currently partnering with hybrid fiber/wireless provider Agile Networks to support critical applications like the State of Ohio Public Safety two-way radio communication system.

"Since implementing the Green Tower pilot in October of 2015, we have been able to better understand the health of a site which allows us to be more effective in our response to issues because of a more complete understanding gained through Green Tower," Kyle Quillen, founder and CTO of Agile Networks, said in a statement. 

Green Tower uses remote and on-site hardware and software to monitor and communicate with its on-site assets from the Network Operations Center.

For more:
- see this Panasonic press release

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