energy
Vantage Towers and Mowea generate wind energy at the radio mast
In the future, Vodafone wants to produce wind energy itself directly on the radio mast. Photo: Paul Zinken/dpa-Zentralbild/dpa
© dpa-infocom GmbH
In the future, Vodafone wants to generate the energy it needs for its system technology itself via its radio mast subsidiary. To this end, Vantage Towers is working with a Berlin start-up for wind energy.
The listed Vodafone radio tower company Vantage Towers and the Berlin wind energy start-up Mowea want to generate green electricity directly at the radio mast.
The contract stipulates that 752 wind turbines will initially be installed on 52 radio masts in Germany, Vantage Towers announced on Wednesday in Düsseldorf.
According to the announcement, the pilot project will achieve an energy generation capacity of up to 650 megawatt hours per year. With average wind conditions, the turbines are intended to reduce the power consumption of the respective cell phone sites from the power grid and the ongoing electricity costs by up to two thirds or more. “This corresponds to an annual CO2 savings potential of up to 239 tons compared to the German electricity mix.” The wind energy generated is not fed into the power grid, but used directly on site to operate the system technology of Vodafone, Vantage Towers’ largest customer.
Vantage Towers is majority owned by the British telecom group Vodafone. The British brought the division to the Frankfurt Stock Exchange in March last year, generating gross proceeds of around 2.3 billion euros. Vodafone boss Nick Read wants to use the money to reduce debt, among other things. Vantage Towers operates almost 46,000 of its own tower locations across Europe, including 19,400 in Germany, Vodafone’s largest and most important individual market.