Cell phone towers will soon run on solar power instead of diesel generators. The ministries of new and renewable energy and of telecommunications are working on converting almost all mobile phone towers into ‘green towers’ by using solar panels instead of diesel generators.

Minister of new and renewable energy Farooq Abdullah said that the shift to solar energy will reduce the use of diesel. he said this while inaugurating an international conference on green technology, organised by Pondicherry University and South Asia Foundation (SAF), in Puducherry on Tuesday.

The minister also said that the mechanism of using solar panels was being worked out. The subsidies for the proposed initiative would be worked out under the Jawaharlal Nehru National Solar Mission, he added.

“Iceland is generating geothermal energy. We want to work on geothermal with them,” Abdullah said. He added that the ministry was sending ministers to look into it.