Sprint Takes Hydrogen Fuel Cell Technology to Rooftops with Help From Department of Energy

Sprint will deploy hydrogen fuel cell technology as backup power to rooftop network sites with financial assistance from the Department of Energy (DOE).

The solution should allow for lower network site maintenance and cleaner network energy sources and will increase network survivability during power outages. This is not the first time Sprint and the DOE have come together to deploy hydrogen fuel cells as an energy source for their network. Sprint pioneered the introduction of fuel cell technology to ground-based networks in 2005. In 2009 the DOE provided a $7.3M grant for Sprint to support fuel cell technology advances. Rooftop cell sites comprise almost 25 percent of Sprint’s total network locations for which fuel cells have not been an option for fuel cell deployment until now. As much as 30 percent of total network cell sites are located on rooftops in some major metropolitan areas. The technology, still in development, could enable innovative approaches to promote rooftop fuel cell deployments. One such approach is a modular and lightweight fuel cell solution that can be easily installed without heavy cranes and can be refueled from the ground -- overcoming the need to transport fuel to rooftops.