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There are few experiences more frustrating than losing cell service. Whether needing to make an important call or looking up directions in an unfamiliar place, losing cell reception is at best a headache and at worst a major safety hazard. Millions of people, from families to massive corporations, rely on the robust network of radio antennae that forms America’s telecommunications infrastructure to keep in touch, conduct business, and coordinate rescue efforts during disasters. As destructive weather events become more common and America’s aging electric grid struggles to keep pace with demand, propane is there to make sure vital communications are uninterrupted.
Cell Towers
Three major types of cell towers comprise the more than 142,000 towers operating in the United States.
Guyed towers are the most easily recognizable. They rise hundreds of feet into the air with long steel cables called guy lines anchoring them to the ground. Given their thin profile and impressive range, guyed towers can be found in both remote and urbanized locations, extending signals to sparsely populated areas or meeting the heavy communication demands of cities.
Self-support towers, or lattice towers, are freestanding vertical towers often affixed with a plethora of satellite dishes and antennae at the top. While they have a larger footprint than guyed towers, they’re more flexible to build in areas with restrictive zoning ordinances or scarce real estate.
Finally, monopoles are as simple as they sound. They are the least capable in terms of range and bandwidth, but their slender form makes them highly attractive to developers and residents concerned with the visual impact of telecommunications equipment.
Cell Sites
While the towers are the most prominent feature of cell sites, it is the base stations and their subsystems that ensure seamless connections between the towers and mobile devices, facilitating thousands of interactions at any given minute. Consistent, reliable power is needed not just by the radio equipment, but also by auxiliary systems, like HVAC and advanced computers that allow these sites to be controlled remotely. Losing power for any length of time, even a couple seconds, results in lengthy bootup sequences. As the system comes back online, everything from text messages to calls are lost.
The FCC did not mandate backup power systems for cell towers till after the devastation wrought by Hurricane Katrina, whose effects were exacerbated by unpowered communications equipment. Telecommunications facilities are mandated to have an eight-hour backup, sometimes more depending on local regulations, like if the tower is in an area prone to extended power outages caused by extreme weather. Despite sounding sensible on paper, the FCC’s mandate was highly controversial within the industry for the complications it imposed on telecommunications companies and the developers who build the sites.
Many phone carriers lease the land they build towers on rather than own it outright. These leases impose restrictions on the cell site’s noise, size, and the materials allowed. Adding backup generators requires amending lease agreements to expand the lease area and allow for the additional hazardous materials required to power generators, a time-consuming and expensive negotiating process. And that’s assuming the space to install bulky generators exists to begin with.
If the sites are near residential areas, they’re beholden to additional regulations and unhappy neighbors concerned with the noise and visual impact on their homes.
Nevertheless, America’s telecommunications infrastructure is far too essential to leave vulnerable.
How Propane Empowers Solutions
In rural or remote areas where cell sites can be hard to access, propane power generation is a longstanding solution. Unlike gasoline or diesel, propane does not degrade over time, ensuring standby generators are ready to go whenever they’re needed. Propane generators maintain performance, even in extreme climates and severe weather conditions, unlike batteries, which lose both capacity and power in cold temperatures. Because the propane engines in these generators have fewer moving parts and utilize a closed loop fueling system, they require less maintenance and are less susceptible to damage from rodents and other wildlife. Propane’s resiliency to the elements and its reliability allows telecommunications companies to save money by minimizing site visits and maintenance costs without compromising on a robust backup power solution.
Cell sites in urban areas vary greatly in size and configuration. Developers must balance building a site capable of meeting local demand while also having minimal impact on the residents and businesses nearby. Diesel generators are loud, smelly, and emit far more particulate matter than propane; propane generators are quieter, do not emit a strong odor, and are much cleaner than diesel.
While nothing can compete with the near-silent operation of battery banks, the number of batteries required to supply a cell site with eight hours of backup power is prohibitively expensive and an inefficient use of space. To meet the site’s backup needs, developers often use a combination of energy solutions. For example, a cell site might have a battery bank with four hours of charge that switches to a small propane generator when the batteries run out. In addition to powering the equipment, the propane generator also recharges the batteries.
Powering Essential Communication
For a system as large and complicated as America’s telecommunications network, there is no one-stop solution. Whether propane is the primary energy source or a team player, it is versatile enough to meet any cell site’s specific needs, minimizing costs and integrating seamlessly within existing structures and neighborhoods. When disaster strikes and the electric grid fails, propane answers the call.
Learn more about clean and reliable propane power generation.
