6649 Keen on Green Telecom Operators Explore Renewables to Cut Costs and Emissions

8/4/2019 6649 Keen on Green Telecom Operators Explore Renewables to Cut Costs and Emissions

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Keen on green: Telecom operators explore renewables to cut costs and emissionsGreen Corner, November 15, 2010

The Indian telecom industry is a key power consumer with over 330,000 towers, each

consuming between 1,000-3,000 watt-hours. However, given the precarious power situation

(with peaking deficits of 11-12 per cent), telecom towers are profoundly dependent on dieseland are estimated to consume over 2.5 billion litres of diesel per annum.

Energy cost currently accounts for 35 percent of total telecom operator costs. Moreover, as the

number of towers grows, associated environmental concerns have also mounted. Recent

studies undertaken by various telecom vendors and the government indicate that telecom

towers alone produce over 550 million tonnes of CO2 emissions per year.

Going green has therefore become a necessity for telecom operators in a market where

margins are nosediving due to tariff wars, denting the profitability of service providers.

Operators are therefore exploring all possible options to reduce dependence on diesel and are

opting for greener technologies. The government also seems geared up to encourage

perceptible change in the power usage pattern of the telecom industry.

Renewable Watch looks at the alternative energy options available to telecom companies andthe initiatives being undertaken by operators, vendors and the government to promote

alternative power sources.

Green options

Solar has so far emerged as the most preferred of renewable technologies on offer primarilybecause of the availability of abundant sunlight across the country.

Other alternatives are also being adopted. Wind turbines for example, are particularly relevant

in areas with significant wind velocities. Moreover, operators are also adopting solar-wind hybrid

solutions, which help lower fossil fuel consumptions by up to 80 per cent. Base stations

powered by such solutions offer economically viable alternatives since they lower both

operating and maintenance expenditures.

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Companies are also undertaking research and development activities for producing bio-fuels

from renewable energy sources, such as agricultural waste and residues, to power existing

diesel gensets. Other solutions like fuel cell systems are also being adopted. These help to

replace batteries and DGs in urban areas. Fuel cell is a generic term encompassing a wide

range of technologies that typically work by transforming the chemical energy of a fuel (usuallyhydrogen) directly into electrical energy. Fuel cells can generate power ranging from 1 watt

(cellphone) to several megawatts (small factories). Hydrogen itself can be extracted in many

different ways from different sources.

Operator initiatives

All telecom operators as well as tower companies in India have started installing and

experimenting with various alternative power solutions.

One of the pioneers in this area was Idea Cellular, which partnered with Ericsson and GSMA's

Development Fund to develop bio-fuels as a power source for wireless networks in rural India.

In a pilot project, such fuels were used to power mobile base stations in Latur, Maharashtra,

where grid power is highly unreliable.

Presently, Idea Cellular is experimenting with hybrid solar solutions. It has begun with 20 sites

at present and intends to take it to 500 eventually. Another initiative from Idea is to have a

higher number of outdoor base transceiver stations (BTSs) as they consume relatively lesser

energy compared to indoor BTSs.

Another initiative was undertaken by Reliance Communications (RCOM), which installedwindmills on its towers at Kunustara and Murugathal in West Bengal. Moreover, the operator

also approached Pune-based solar panel manufacturer Machinocraft, for powering cell sites

using solar power.

It is currently exploring the feasibility of using solar energy in areas where an electric connection

is not available. RCOM has also deployed bio-fuel plants to run its rural telecom networks in

several areas.

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Bharti Airtel, which was the second largest buyer of diesel after Indian Railways till 2007, when

it spun off its cellular towers into a separate entity (Indus Towers), has already conducted trials

using wind power for sites in coastal areas of Andhra Pradesh, Orissa and Bengal. It has also

conducted some pilot projects on solar power and bio-fuels.

Bharti Infratel has already installed 500 solar sites on ground and is planning to take this to

2,000 soon. By end 2010-11, 30 per cent of its sites are likely to be using alternative fuels.

According to GTL Infrastructure, energy management can result in 10-12 per cent reductions in

energy cost. It has set a target of having 500 solar sites by March 2011. The company intends

to be an all-green infrastructure provider by 2012-13.

Viom Networks (formerly WTTIL-Quippo) too has identified 20 per cent of its worst performing

sites in terms of energy consumption and is working towards making them more efficient. It has

set a target of having 1,000 solar-powered sites and 500 fuel cell-powered sites in 2010-11.

Vendor initiatives

Vendors have been increasingly flooding the market with renewable energy solutions. For

instance, Moserbaer offers customised solar energy solutions to minimise operational

complexity and maximise financial benefits. It also provides customised hybrid systems with

other resources like wind to use potential windy sites to optimise costs.

Leading equipment makers such as Ericsson and Nokia Siemens Networks (NSN) have also

installed hundreds of base-stations powered by solar panels, wind turbines or bio-fuels, mostly

in parts of the developing world where there is no electricity grid. NSN is currently offering

operators autonomous sites, which can be configured with solar and wind systems to suit the

local environmental conditions. Recently, NSN has also entered into a global collaboration with

ACME Tele Power, whereby the two companies will work together to offer efficient operation,

maintenance and energy management solutions to telecom operators in India. ACME Tele

Power is focusing on eco-friendly technologies such as green shelters, nano-cooled shelters

and battery coolers.

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The Indian telecom equipment maker Vihaan Networks Limited (VNL) has launched the first

commercial deployment of solar-powered GSM systems. This system works on solar panels,

and can run without being powered for three days while the battery needs to be replaced every

five years.

Apart from network solutions, these vendors are also coming up with renewable power solutions

for mobile handsets. For example, with Sony Ericsson, Ericsson has developed a mobile phone

village solar charger. This innovation, intended for use in villages almost anywhere in the world,

is capable of recharging at least 30 mobile phone batteries per day and eight phones

simultaneously.

Government initiatives

A major obstacle in the uptake of renewable energy for running telecom networks is the

high-cost business case for installing the infrastructure. The government, over the past few

years, has stepped up its efforts towards helping the operators manage energy costs and aid

overall growth. In July 2009, the Department of Telecommunications (DoT) decided to offer

financial support from the Universal Service Obligation (USO) fund to telecom players using

renewable energy sources to power their base stations in rural areas. DoT launched a schemewhereby Rs 5 million per installation was to be given for mobile towers running on renewable

energy.

The scheme was launched on a pilot basis for 20 areas and was limited to telecom

infrastructure companies, who had earlier won the contract for rolling out 8,000 cellular towers

in 500 districts. Most of the pilots have so far been successful resulting in substantial power

saving, some are still ongoing. This subsidy will be extended to the second phase of the USO

Fund's rural infrastructure project that involves setting up 11,000 towers in remote areas.

In a separate move, a panel was set up by the government in September 2010 to promote and

push the use of renewable energy for the Indian telecom sector. Ajay Bhattacharaya, chairman,

the USO fund, will be heading the five member panel, which has been asked to submit a set of

guidelines by end-2010, for ways to promote renewable energy options in the telecom sector.

The panel is part of the National Action Plan on Climate Change, an initiative which aims at

enabling a shift from a fossil fuel based economy to renewable energy, such as solar and wind.

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The government is also likely to make it mandatory for mobile phone towers to be powered by

solar energy. The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy is undertaking a test project on the

adoption of solar power panels on 600 towers. The trials are to be completed by mid-2011, post

which the project will be implemented nationally. A funding scheme for the same is being

worked out.

The Telecom Regulatory Authority of India too is in the process of preparing a consultation

paper on "green telecom" which offers guidance for the use of eco-friendly equipment in the ICT

sector. The paper is expected to address critical issues like the carbon footprint-reduction of the

telecom industry, the need for carbon credit policy for the sector, methods/options to reduce the

carbon foot print by ICT industry in India, standardisation of green telecom equipment and

incentive for their adoption, and a framework for monitoring carbon emission and corrective

action for telecom sector.

Conclusion

In all, a renewable energy revolution could take off in the telecom industry. The ongoing

deployment of alternative energy solutions by operators across the board has already helped to

make green an important ingredient of all the new telecom equipment and products being

rolled-out. As these initiatives scale up, the impact should visible lower both operating costs as

well as carbon emission levels in the sector.

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6649 Keen on Green Telecom Operators Explore Renewables to Cut Costs and Emissions