Telecom operators began sharing their passive infrastructure in 2005 in the wake of falling tariffs and low ARPUs. This paved the way for the emergence of the telecom tower industry. Following a period of strong growth, this segment is facing the challenges of increasing energy costs and the unavailability of uninterrupted grid power. As per the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India’s (TRAI) consultation paper on green telecommunications, which was published in March 2011, India has over 400,000 telecom towers. About 60 per cent of the power requirements of these towers are met by diesel generators (DGs), which consume about 2 billion litres of diesel each year and result in 5.3 million tonnes of carbon dioxide emissions.

Electricity and DG fuel costs account for about one-third of a telecom company’s network opex. The average DG runtime in rural areas is 16-20 hours per day. As per industry estimates, the diesel consumption of telecom sites will increase from the current 2 billion litres per annum to about 3 billion litres per annum by 2020. Thus, it has become imperative for telecom operators to consider all options for optimising costs. They are preparing strategies for energy management, with a focus on renewable energy sources. Solar power is considered the most viable option as it involves relatively low costs. In addition, the renewable energy segment has strong policy support.

The solar energy market has gained traction, which has led to the emergence of the renewable energy service company (resco) model. A resco generates power using alternative energy sources at a hub location and caters to the energy requirements of all towers in the vicinity. The model envisages an aggregation of the power requirements of all tower companies in an area and ensures commitment on the part of tower companies to remain the resco’s long-term anchor customer (for over 10 years).

As the resco would be a small- or medium-sized energy utility company, its role would be limited to supplying energy in areas with low grid power availability.

Technology-wise adoption

Solar-DG hybrid

According to the Ministry of New and Renewable Energy, about 250,000 telecom towers are equipped to deploy solar photovoltaic (PV) systems. However, since solar power is not available round the clock, a hybrid of solar, DG, battery and grid power is used. So far, solar-DG hybrids and fuel cells have witnessed significant uptake in the telecom sector.

The business case for solar-DG technology has strengthened, as the price of solar PV modules has decreased significantly. Currently, the price of a module is less than $1 per watt. Today, leading players are implementing or have announced plans for installing solar-DG hybrid systems.

Some of the key initiatives in this segment are:

A pilot project for establishing a solar hybrid renewable energy system was undertaken as part of the shared mobile infrastructure scheme under the Universal Service Obligation (USO) Fund in the Sundarbans. The project was conceptualised and sponsored by the Department of Telecommunications, and involved the Environ Energy Corporation, which supplied, installed and commissioned a 10 kWp solar power system at the USO Fund site maintained by Bharat Sanchar Nigam Limited.

Bharti Infratel, which owns about 33,000 telecom towers, has signed an MoU with the GSM Association to convert 1,000 towers into green sites. Under the Green Towers P7 initiative, which was launched in 2010, over 11,000 sites of Bharti Infratel are already utilising alternative backup power, of which almost 1,350 sites use solar hybrid systems.

Biomass

Rural areas offer a strong business case for using biomass-based systems to power telecom towers. However, procuring feedstock is a major challenge. Long-term biomass supply contracts are crucial to address this issue, in the absence of which   major issues with regard to availability and generation of power could arise. This can also impact revenues from the telecom site due to power shortages.

It should be ensured that telecom towers are installed in the vicinity of a biomass-based power plant. For instance, Husk Power’s power plant supplies electricity to Bharti Infratel’s sites in Bihar.

Fuel cells

Fuel cell systems are particularly useful at sites that have relatively low energy requirements (less than 10 kW) for a long duration (more than eight hours). Fuel cell-based backup power systems are designed to operate for about 15 years, while DGs may need replacement after every three to five years. Further, fuel cell solutions require minimal annual maintenance as compared to DGs, which need quarterly site visits for servicing.

Some of the key industry initiatives in this segment are:

In November 2011, Ballard Power Systems announced that its joint venture Dantherm Power will supply hydrogen fuel cell-based backup solutions for installation at 30 single-tenant outdoor sites owned by Idea Cellular. Fuel cell systems will be deployed at cell towers that are in the vicinity of the Aditya Birla Group’s chemical plant in Madhya Pradesh. The plant produces large volumes of hydrogen as a by-product, which can be used for powering telecom towers and in distributed power generation systems within the plant to reduce energy costs and carbon emissions.

Indus Towers has also deployed fuel cell solutions at over 500 sites.

Small wind and solar-wind hybrid systems

Power supplied by stand-alone small wind power systems is inadequate to meet the energy requirements of towers. A small wind and solar hybrid system is considered a viable alternative for telecom towers. Moreover, the size of the battery system plays an important role in the deployment of wind power solutions. Telecom tower companies like Bharti Infratel, Indus Towers and GTL have used this model, but it has been only partially successful.

Challenges for rescos

The use of renewable energy sources largely depends on their availability. The creation of parallel backup infrastructure for storage and generation is essential for a resco to adhere to its service-level agreement and for meeting the tower companies’ energy needs. Also, considering that tower clusters are spread across locations, several rescos need to be located in a single area to best serve such a cluster. Other challenges include issues related to power distribution in both rural and urban areas. In urban areas, obtaining approvals for right of way is a major challenge.

As per a study by Greenpeace, enforcement of regulations including TRAI’s recommendation on green telecom would save over 540 million litres of diesel annually, and about 3.5 billion litres of diesel cumulatively till 2015. While these regulatory moves are a welcome step, the adoption of renewable technologies involves various challenges, despite the favourable economics in some cases.