Nokia has teamed up with Finnish Operator Elisa and a leading power systems firm Efore to commercially deploy a liquid-cooled base station system in an apartment building in Helsinki.
Claiming to be world-first, the technology promises lower costs for operators and owners of base station sites, as well as reduced CO2 emissions.
In the deployment, heat emitted from the base station has been redirected to heat the building, lowering energy costs. In previously conducted customer trials with the Nokia solution, Nokia Bell Labs saw a reduction of up 80.percent in CO2 emissions and up to 30 percent in energy operating expenses - significant savings for operators and other owners of base station sites. Liquid cooling permits the removal of air conditioning and fans, promising further operator savings, potentially longer base station component life and silent sites.
The Nokia Bell Labs-developed liquid-cooled base station was made at Nokia’s Oulu facility in Finland and the liquid-cooled power system was developed by power supplier Efore, with Elisa deploying the base station in Helsinki. The VTT Technical Research Centre of Finland evaluated the environmental impact of the liquid-cooled base station and energy usage compared to those generated by air cooling in the field.
Minna Kroger, Director, Corporate Responsibility, Elisa
We have set science-based targets to reduce our emissions in our effort to become an environmental leader, and we are committed to providing customers the services that enable them to act in a sustainable way.
Pekka Sundstrom, Head of the Elisa Customer Team, Nokia
Nokia and Nokia Bell Labs have conducted extensive research and testing to explore the possibilities of using a liquid-cooled base station in an operator’s network.
