Situation
Delta had installed a number of solar powered telecom power systems for a customer in Africa. The systems were performing even better than planned, however the customer was experiencing difficulties to successfully prevent theft and vandalism on their sites. The reason behind these attempts was that the region where the systems were deployed was rather poor.

This situation meant that the systems now needed to be upgraded so that they could withstand theft and vandalism attempts.

The customer was determined to minimize the impact of destructive activities and requested a full range of countermeasures - fences, cages, barbed wire, reinforcements to the cabinets and locks, etc.

Solution
The customer was very interested in improving their sites’ security, however at the same time, their budget didn’t allow great investments in that. And this is why Delta’s engineering started thinking in a different direction. This is how a new, creative idea was put forward.

The statistics showed that the photovoltaic system was over performing and was producing more power than initially expected. Therefore instead of reinforcing the site, the engineers proposed to add a small inverter and to add an electricity outlet on the outside of the power systems, so that it is freely available to the local community. The power that would be made available would be controlled by the power system’s controller and would be only that excess produced power which could not be used by the system.

This addition would allow the telecom company to give back to the local community, but also would make the site an essential resource for the locals. Which would make them feel less inclined to vandalize it.

At first the telecom operator was skeptical, however they agreed to a trial. And quickly they realized that this approach is much more effective for them than any security reinforcements which they could have implemented. The site had no power shortage, and the local community was so appreciative to their new source of power, that they were making a point of guarding it themselves. What is more, the locals used that power mostly to charge their mobile phones and flashlights, as they were quite essential for their daily needs. This also caused the site in question to carry more traffic, bringing more revenue to the operator as an effect.

Conclusion
The customer gladly accepted the simple, creative and low cost solution that Delta proposed. So much so, that it became a standard feature for all of their new sites in the area. This solution didn't only help the security of the telecom sites, but also dramatically improved the image of the operator and increased the call and SMS traffic in proximity to those towers.