The Department of Telecom in India (DoT) has selected PricewaterhouseCoopers (PwC) to create a carbon credit policy for Telecom Carriers in the country, which would see PwC create a master plan for powering 3.5 lakh telecom
towers in the country with green power. The Plan was put forward in a recently conducted meeting, in which DoT officials, Telecom Carrier representatives, PwC consultants and MNRE officials were present. The Outcome of the meeting will see the consultant major PwC create a startegic action plan by the end of February this month. The Plan involves creation of carbon credits, which the telecom carriers will receive by feeding green power to the grid for the coming six years.
According to a senior DoT official, "The government wants telecom companies to ensure a substantial chunk of power consumed by telecom towers in rural and urban areas is fed back into the national grid in the form of renewable energy by 2020,"
"PwC has been asked to assess carbon footprint reduction targets mandated by DoT and also evolve a carbon credit policy in line with carbon credit norms and international best practices in the telecom sector," the official added. According to ET, the key issue would be evolving a mechanism for telcos to earn carbon credit certificates after carbon reduction targets have been met.
Recently TRAI, had released a guideline, which would see 50% of all rural towers and 20% of the urban towers are to be powered by hybrid power (Renewable Energy Technologies (RET) + Grid Power) by 2015, while 75% of rural towers and 33% of urban towers are to powered by hybrid power by 2020.
