The best telecom sites often lack grid power due to their altitude and terrain. New sites often require grid-extension or on-site generation. Since grid-extension can be very expensive and are sometimes infeasible, diesel generators are usually the first solution. However generators work inefficiently at low loads and are very sensitive to quality of maintenance. On the other hand solar panels on their own are very expensive for larger loads and have limited performance during overcast weather. Hybrid solutions are usually the answer for such sites.

A typical hybrid system will comprise of the following.

• One or more  variable speed wind turbines
• One or more solar arrays
• DC bus architecture
• 1 - 5 days of battery storage
• Sinewave static inverters for DC-AC conversion
• Back-up diesel generator for low wind / solar periods (larger systems only)
• Renewables typically supply 60 - 100% of energy and provides 24/7 power with diesel run times reduced to ~10%