T-Mobile wireless broadband customers in the small borough of Chalfont, Pennsylvania will soon be receiving their signal with help from the company’s first solar-powered cellular tower.

The move, according to GIGAom, is one usually seen in developing countries or far-flung locales, where signal towers are few and far between. But T-Mobile’s solar project in the U.S. will allow the company to promote its green credentials. And while it may initially cost more up front to go solar, it may save the company more money in the long run.

T-Mobile has not said how much power will be produced by the 12-panel solar energy system, but we do know that the array has the potential to, at times, feed power back into the electricity grid of PECO, the largest natural gas utility company in the state.

Other cellular providers may soon follow suit. In fact, Pike Research estimates that, if the cost of solar power declines as expected, 4.5 percent of base cell stations in the world will be solar-powered by 2014. Currently, that figure sits at just 0.11 percent.