OREANDA-NEWS. March 15, 2012. NEC Corporation (NEC; TSE: 6701) announced today the beginning of a survey on the economic and social benefits in India of deploying mobile phone base stations equipped with hybrid electrical power and energy management technologies in combination with solar power and rechargeable batteries.

NEC was entrusted with this survey as part of the New Energy and Industrial Technology Development Organization's (NEDO) "Fundamental Research Project on the Feasibility of Introducing Energy Management Systems to Telecom Towers in India."

The survey covers topics that include policies and organizations related to the characteristics of base station equipment, electric power quality, base station usage time (the necessity of an uninterrupted 24 hour power supply), the economic challenges of operating base stations (capital expenditures, operations costs, etc.) and the environmental friendliness of base stations.

The survey is scheduled to take place from March 1 to May 31, 2012 throughout urban, rural and agricultural areas of India, including the Haryana, Gujarat and Maharashtra states.

Mobile phone carriers and companies that operate base station infrastructures in India are seeing a rapid expansion in the installation of base stations, which is in line with the country's swift increase in mobile phone subscribers.

However, there are still many urban and suburban areas that frequently experience power outages due to unstable power supplies, as well as many rural areas without electricity at all. For this reason, many businesses continue to rely on in-house power generation through diesel engine generators in order to operate their base stations. As a result, the fuel used to operate these generators occupies a high percentage of operating costs.

The deployment of hybrid electricity and energy management technologies, such as solar power and rechargeable batteries, are considered to be effective measures for improving the energy situation in India. This survey is being carried out as part of verifying the benefits of these measures.

NEC also views this survey as an important part of verifying the potential of energy management business, including solar power systems and rechargeable batteries, such as lithium ion batteries, across a wide range of emerging countries. All of which contributes to the development of new energy business throughout the world.