Delta India Electronics, part of the Taiwan-based Delta Group, was set up in 1992. It is responsible for developing business in the SAARC region. Over the years, the company has emerged as a leading vendor, providing power systems to telecom firms in India. Dalip Sharma, managing director, Delta India, talks about the growing uptake of renewable energy systems by telecom operators in India and Delta’s increasing focus on developing products for this space. Excerpts…

How important is the Indian telecom sector for Delta?

Telecom is one of the fastest growing sectors in India. Telecom power systems secure services during grid power interruptions and fluctuations. Delta’s power systems are designed for wireless broadband access and fixed line applications as well as for the internet backbone and data centres. We provide a broad range of power systems and global services to telecom operators, network manufacturers and integrators.

We have more than 200,000 installations in India and the SAARC (South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation) region. The Indian telecom sector contributes 60 per cent to Delta India’s revenues and 27 per cent to the global telecom revenues of the Delta Group. The increasing demand for mobile services, the growing subscriber base and new technologies like 3G require more efficient and reliable infrastructure. Passive infrastructure is very important for service providers as it ensures smooth and uninterrupted networks. Telecom infrastructure providers are trying to improve their energy performance and uninterrupted power is a key requirement to this end.

What is the business case for green energy in the telecom space?

Energy is one of the major opex components for both fixed and mobile network operators. Many operators are planning to reduce their networks’ carbon footprint. Network infrastructure vendors are trying to gain a competitive advantage by reducing the power requirement of their equipment by adopting energy efficient solutions. These power solutions also help operators to reduce opex and capex. With a large number of subscribers being connected to telecom networks, energy consumption and the sector’s contribution to greenhouse gas emissions is increasing.

The carbon footprint of the information and communication technology industry is about 860 million tonnes (mt) or 2 per cent of global emissions, and that of telecom networks and devices is about 0.7 per cent of the global emissions.

About 310,000 telecom towers are currently in operation to cater to the large subscriber base in India. About 70 per cent of these towers are in rural areas. Many of these areas have deficient power supply and, according to some reports, about 40 per cent of the energy requirement of these towers is being met through grid power and 60 per cent by diesel generators.

According to estimates, the total annual diesel consumption for powering telecom tower equipment and cooling is 2 billion litres, which costs over Rs 64 billion. This produces about 5.3 million litres of carbon dioxide annually. The telecom sector is one of the largest consumers of diesel in the country. Telecom towers alone produce over 550 mt of carbon emissions each year. About 60,000 rural telecom sites have no access to grid power and run 24x7 on diesel generators. With the continued growth of the subscriber base, these numbers are only going to increase. This underlines the importance of installing energy efficient equipment and renewable energy use.

The Ministry of New and Renewable Energy’s  proposal to make it mandatory for mobile towers to be powered by solar energy is an attempt to reduce the sector’s carbon footprint. Operators are opting for green energy to reduce site opex and for environment conservation. The solar power initiative for mobile towers will help reduce the use of noisy, smoke-spewing diesel generators in tower operations.

What alternative and back-up power solutions are available for the telecom sector in urban and rural areas?

Our site monitoring control system (SMCS) provides voltage stabilisation, an automatic mains failure switch, DG health check-up logic, DG fuel saving logic, and distribution and alarm panels. SMCS enables high performance businesses to consolidate and simplify the management of their network infrastructure to increase security, reduces cost by almost 50 per cent and provides operational reliability.

Delta’s recently launched hybrid site solution brings together the company’s telecom power products, and aims to improve market standards by enabling significant direct and indirect energy savings. Delta’s RenE solutions feature a modular power supply system that can use any combination of solar power, wind turbines, mains power, diesel generators and fuel cells, which may reduce the payback time as well as electricity bills by over 50 per cent.

Most of Delta’s products offer 93-98 per cent power efficiency, resulting in significant energy savings. Delta recently launched the SolutionE label, a new programme for branding the company’s most energy efficient products in the telecom space. All SolutionE products and solutions offer an efficiency of 95 per cent or more.

What is the cost differential between conventional and renewable power systems used for running telecom infrastructure?

There is a cost variation in conventional and renewable power systems. Installation of renewable power systems costs 30 per cent more than setting up conventional power systems. Though it is a little less expensive to install conventional power systems, these systems, which are typically dependent on diesel generators, continue to increase opex on a monthly basis.

Renewable power systems, though expensive, help reduce opex in the long run and recover installation costs over time. Gensets in conventional power systems add huge operational costs as they need fuel on a daily basis to ensure power back-up. These gensets create noise and environmental pollution, and are difficult to maintain. Moreover, their operation and management require dedicated manpower and logistics, which adds to the opex.

Do you see this cost gap being bridged over time? If so, by when?

Yes, as both public and private service providers are considering renewable power systems as the best power back-up source. It will not be too long before these systems become the first choice for telecom operators. However, proper promotion and education about these solutions are very important.

What are some of your commissioned, ongoing and planned power system installations for telecom operators in India?

Delta has successfully implemented its solutions for major service providers. The company’s recently launched hybrid site solution has been installed at rural sites and is showing positive results. This solution has been deployed in rural areas in states like Bihar, Uttar Pradesh, Jharkhand and Gujarat.

What have been the key issues and challenges in implementing these solutions, especially in rural areas?

Implementation of these solutions in rural areas has been a major challenge. The issues include infrastructure, security, reach, and operation and maintenance. Since these sites are located in remote areas that lack ground infrastructure, it becomes a challenge for the team to reach the site with the equipment. Also, these unmanned base station sites are vulnerable to security risks in terms of fuel theft.

Space constraint is another key challenge. Solar panel installation requires substantial space and this becomes a challenge, especially in urban areas where land is expensive. It is easier to install solar panels in rural areas where space is not a major issue. On the other hand, fuel cells are more suited to urban areas.

What has been the international experience in using alternative energy sources?

Delta has successfully implemented alternative energy solutions worldwide and our projects are running successfully. The company installed a 1 MWp solar power system for the main stadium of the 2009 World Games in Taiwan. We are the only company to offer end-to-end solutions for solar applications, ranging from manufacturing set-up solutions to solar cells, solar panels, solar inverters as well as EPC services. Delsolar, a wholly owned subsidiary of Delta, is a major player in the solar photovoltaic and fuel cell markets in Europe and Taiwan, and has recently entered the Indian market.

What are your future plans for the telecom infrastructure space?

The wireless subscriber base has been growing and, therefore, the demand for capacity and coverage will continue to increase, resulting in higher diesel consumption. Therefore, unless the industry looks at alternative energy sources and increases the efficiency of existing systems, survival would be difficult both from a power availability perspective and a sustainability perspective, given the declining ARPUs and increasing capex.

Rural India will witness substantial telecom rollout and expansion. The future market drivers include limited energy supplies, rising energy costs, ethical consumerism becoming more mainstream,  increasing government regulation and subsidies for environment-friendly solutions. Therefore, the major challenges are reducing opex, ensuring power reliability and managing remote sites with a quick return on investment.

We have geared up to offer comprehensive solutions for telecom sites and power management, from designing the optimised site for customers, offering high efficiency and hybrid power management products to monitoring and managing sites. Some of the innovations in this direction are high efficiency rectifiers, high-end controllers, SMCS, network management systems, cooling solutions, fast charge batteries, solar hybrid solutions, etc.

Delta is also developing a manufacturing unit in Sriperumbudur in phases. It will initially manufacture two product lines – solar inverters (spring and block/central) and 2 MW wind turbine converters. We will be breaking ground in May 2011 and the first commercial run is planned in April 2012.