African telcos to benefit from renewable energy

04 October 2024

Clear Blue Technologies International has teamed with Growth Energy to power a network of African telecoms facilities.

Growth Energy develops, finances, deploys, and manages renewable energy power plants for African industries, telecom, and gated estates, whereas Clear Blue provides ‘wireless power’ to meet the need for reliable, low-cost, solar and hybrid power for lighting, telecom, security, Internet of Things (IoT) devices, and other mission-critical systems.

Growth Energy has chosen Clear Blue as its original equipment manufacturer partner, and it will use Clear Blue’s Esite-Micro power technology, as well as its Illumience Smart Power management service, to power network of African telecom sites.

The project is nearing the end of contract discussions, with preparations for funding disbursement and the start of the engineering, procurement, and construction phases now underway. Phase one of the project is slated to ship in 2024, with two additional stages anticipated after that, totalling a potential $4 million over three phases from 2024-2026.

“This project is an example of the African continent-wide shift towards replacing expensive and polluting diesel generator-based systems with eco-friendly and cost-effective solar energy,” said Miriam Tuerk, CEO of Clear Blue.

“Our alignment on the design to cost approach, while ensuring the highest levels of quality assurance were critical to being able to meet the aggressive cost targets of the project, and Clearblue demonstrated a good understanding and mastery of this approach,” said While, John Okoro, managing director of Growth Energy. “As a technology company with capacity to also operate and manage systems for their customers, Clear Blue will be involved in supporting Growth Energy’s Operation and Maintenance teams during the long-term operation and maintenance, ensuring the project exceeds performance expectations and delivers guaranteed long-term benefits.”