How much power does the base station need

The power consumption of a single 5G station is 2.5 to 3.5 times higher than that of a single 4G station. The main factor behind this increase in 5G power consumption is the high power usage of the active antenna unit (AAU). Under a full workload, a single station uses nearly 3700W.

However, Li says 5G base stations are carrying five times the traffic as when equipped with only 4G, pushing up power consumption. The carrier is seeking subsidies from the Chinese government to help with the increased energy usage.

Because no matter where you live in any community, there are densely packed base stations. There are 50 base stations in one square kilometer, and you can't avoid them. At that time, the street lamps, power poles and billboards you saw were probably 5G base stations in disguise. There is no way to avoid it.

Data shows the power of the BBU is relatively stable and is affected very little by the workload, while AAU is opposite, with power consumption growing as the load increases. With S111 configuration and 100% load, the power consumption of a single station can even reach 3852.5W.

The current 200,000 base stations can save 1.2 billion annually. By the end of this year, 1 million 5G base stations will be built, saving 6 billion in a year. If there are more than 2 million base stations, 12 billion electricity can be saved a year, which is equivalent to China Unicom's total profit in one year.

Look at this test data, this is already the world's top-level base station, produced by the world's top suppliers, using the most advanced chips from Japan and the United States. 5G base stations consume several times more power than 4G base stations.