Econet InfraCo slashes diesel consumption by 30% using AI

STAFF WRITER
With the cost of diesel rising dramatically because of conflict in the Middle East, one company has come up with a novel solution for its diesel consumption.
Econet InfraCo, the tower operator subsidiary of Econet Wireless Zimbabwe, has become the first tower operator in the world to deploy a solution using AI.
The tower operator developed the AI Fuel Mode in collaboration with its sister company Cassava Compute, which operates the only NVIDIA AI supercomputer in Africa, based in Cape Town South Africa.Mobile operators in Africa operate more than 500 000 diesel power generators to support their operations due to the inconsistent availability of power – particularly grid electricity. The cost of diesel is therefore the single largest expense line for tower infrastructure companies.
Econet InfraCo worked with the Cassava Compute team to analyse how and when each diesel generator is deployed, and went on to develop an AI fuel management matrix, which slashed the cost of diesel by 30%.Cassava Ai says the AI platform is set to be made available to other operators, paving the way for it to be adapted to other industries such as mining and manufacturing.
The Ai Fuel Mode solution comes as Cassava Ai, working with NVIDIA, has begun the process of deploying an Ai Energy Mode platform, which operates in a similar way, to helping the Econet mobile network operator efficiently manage its electricity supply usage. Both platforms create a demand for Cassava’s GPUs from its factory.