Huawei's 5G base stations consume 20% less power than the industry average

Huawei released its 2018 Sustainability Report. Liang Hua, Chairman of Huawei, spoke at the launch event.

Liang said: "Energy efficiency has become a major consideration for future communications networks. We have to use less energy to transmit more data, and reduce the overall energy consumption of power systems. ICT technologies can help."

There's a fair amount of concern over the power consumption of 5G networks, especially because they will have much larger capacity and transmit data at much faster speeds. Given the sheer number of connections that are to be established, many people may think that 5G networks will eat through twice the amount of power that 4G does.

But, that's not actually the case, according to Liang. The 5G networks are already being deployed, and it is expected that when 5G networks are covering the same sized area as 4G networks, the power consumption will typically be equal for both. But, 5G supports larger capacity, and hence, the energy consumption per bit of 5G will be just one-tenth of that of 4G.

Yang Chaobin, President of Huawei 5G Product Line, said: "Huawei has significantly reduced the power consumption per bit of 5G, using a series of innovative technologies. First, we've got chips. Huawei uses high-performance algorithms, which makes our boards more integrated, reduces the number of on-board components, and brings down the power consumption of modules.

"Second, we have effective processes. For example, we use innovative materials and algorithms to improve energy conversion and use biomimetic heat dissipation technology to improve heat dissipation. This helps make our 5G equipment smaller and lighter."

He added: "Regarding our 5G site design, Huawei's 5G Simplified Solution, such as the Super Blade Site, which is a full-outdoor modular design, requires no air conditioning for base stations. This has greatly reduced energy consumption.

“We also use AI to cut the power consumption through coordination across entire networks, without any impact on network performance. This optimizes power saving across entire networks."

Liang Hua also stated: "Combining our strengths in software and hardware, we have managed to reduce per-site power consumption to 20% less than the industry average. Our 5G equipment is more energy-efficient. With the right solutions, Huawei's 5G is green."