About Us
1st solar powered telephone company in the USA
Founded in 1976, Stelle Telephone Company (STC) is the first solar powered telephone system in the USA. We are the world’s first offgrid solar-powered Internet service provider (ISP). Our phone system utilizes 2,900 watts of PV. Both our telephone and internet services are powered by renewable energy (RE). This small telephone company in Stelle Illinois, serves the town which has a population of 100, and is located among the cornfields of Ford County, about an hour and a half south of Chicago. STC is a cooperative mutual, owned by its members, and is the 7th smallest phone company in the USA.
Services
We provide analog telephone lines and wireless internet to our customers. Our telephone service is delivered through T1 lines, and our internet service is delivered through fiber optic lines and then distributed wirelessly to the community.
Our Equipment
Our 200-line digital phone switch is powered by a 2 KW peak array of Solarex MSX-64 solar modules, and a large bank of sealed absorbed glass mat batteries (1,400 amp-hours at 48 VDC) in conjunction with a backup propane generator.