Solar sleeve on an nbn wireless tower covers up to 40% of daytime load
Serguey Asael Shinder2 min readAustralia's National Broadband Network is testing whether its fixed wireless towers can power part of themselves. Decon Corporation, a Victorian telecommunications and electrical services company, has wrapped lightweight, flexible solar laminate panels around the north-facing side of a 40-metre nbn Fixed Wireless monopole at New Gisborne in the Macedon Ranges, about 60 kilometres north-west of Melbourne. pv magazine reports that the proof-of-concept has completed its first month.
Early results suggest the sleeve can generate up to 40% of the site's total power demand during daylight, depending on weather. Combined with the site's existing battery storage and other energy-saving measures, the design aims to keep an equipped site running for up to 12 hours during a mains outage, maintaining connectivity for customers nearby. Decon says its patented mounting system is what makes the approach repeatable: the laminates attach to an existing monopole with little added structural load, avoiding a separate ground-mounted array.
nbn's chief technology officer, Guy Scott, said the trial has moved into an operational phase and that the company believes the solution could keep selected fixed wireless sites online during mains-related outages. nbn says it will keep evaluating the system's performance.
What it means
A telecom tower is an awkward place for solar - vertical, curved, and often on land where a ground array is impractical - but it has two useful properties: it already has batteries, and it is exactly the kind of site that goes dark in the storms and fires that also take down the grid. Extending backup time is the real prize, more than the energy saved.
The figures come from one month at one site, so they describe the concept rather than a fleet. The test that matters is performance through winter, when the sun is low and the north-facing side of the pole carries all the generation.