MAY 2018

DEEP RESEARCH | 360° WATCH

TELECOM SECTOR :

A PARADIGM SHIFT

TOWARDS

CLEANER ENERGY

MAY 2018

CONTENTS

Introduction - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 3

Telecom industry and energy consumption - - - - - - - - - 3

Power availability by region in India - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 4

Plans & strategy of Indian telecom companies - - - - - - 4

Case study - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 5

Diesel consumption distribution for telecom sites- - - - - 5

Saving & payback - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 6

Estimated emission reduction - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 6

Energy management and challenges - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 7

Govt. Initiatives - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 7

Conclusion - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - - 7

A

MAY 2018

Every year, 120,000 new base stations are deployed servicing 400 million new

mobile subscribers around the world. Remote regions of India often rely on

inefficient diesel generators for power, which significantly grow the carbon

footprint. Operational costs in remote areas are aggravated more due to

transportation difficulties and the fact that diesel costs have risen 100% since

2015. It is expected that deregulation of diesel prices, if continued with current

regulatory fees, tax structure and marketing margin, would result in an increase

in diesel price further in upcoming days. In other words, energy costs could

constitute more than 90% of the cost of operating telecom towers, everything

else being constant. So, to curb the power issues and to reduce carbon

emissions, it has become imperative for the telecom industries to evaluate all

alternative options. The growing cost of energy due to diesel prices and concerns

over rising greenhouse emissions have caused tower infrastructure companies to

focus on better power management methods. Various methods in the categories

of demand management, supply management and renewable energy

technologies (RETs) are being adopted.

• Unreliable electrical grid supply is one of the biggest challenges faced by the rapidly growing telecom tower industry in India. Today, on average, 70 percent of the approximately 400,000 mobile towers in India face electrical grid outages in excess of 8 hours a day

▪ India is the second largest telecom market in the world followed by China. The telecom subscriber base in the country is dominated by the wireless segment which accounts for about 97% of the total subscriber base.

▪ The wireless subscriber base in India stood at 1,033.6 million at the end of 2015-2016 financial year.

▪ Approximate consumption of mobile tower is 3-5 kilowatts depending on the numbers of operator using the tower.

▪ According to TRAI an average fuel consumption of 8,760 liters diesel every year per tower assuming 8 hours of operation by diesel.

▪ Total Co2 Emission by using of Diesel is 10 metric tone.▪ By using of Renewable Energy like solar energy can reduce the Co2

foot print And consumption of Diesel.

INTRODUCTION

OVERVIEW OF TELECOM INDUSTRIES AND ENERGY CONSUMPTION

3

MAY 2018

The 2.5 billion litres of diesel consumed, emit 6.6 million metric tons of CO2

annually, making the current use of diesel generators both an environmentally

and economically unattractive solution. This research article details true energy

costs of a telecom tower site facing average power outage of 12 hrs a day. The

above mentioned site is powered by a diesel generator and a pack of batteries,

a configuration that currently exists in over 90% of the telecom tower sites.

Gri

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AVERAGE PER DAY GRID AVAILABILITY BY REGION IN INDIA

OPERATIONAL DIAGRAM OF HYBRID SOLAR POWER TELECOM TOWER

4

MAY 2018

Now TRAI (Telecom regulatory Authority of India) And DOT (Department of

telecommunication) jointly Working to reduce the carbon emission by 25% by 2020.

The telecom tower industry in India is estimated to consume over 2.5 billion litres of

diesel annually making it the second largest consumer of diesel in the country. This

business continuity service results in a revenue under-recovery (revenue loss) of INR

14.64 per litre of diesel to the public sector oil marketers totalling to approximately

INR 3,660 Crore (USD 732 million approx.) annually. The 2.5 billion litres of diesel

consumed, emit 6.6 million metric tons of CO2 annually, making the current use of

diesel generators both an environmentally and economically unattractive solution.

This research article details true energy costs of a telecom tower site facing average

power outage of 12 hrs a day.

SPV WIND TURBINE BIOMASS FUEL CELL

ENERGY SOURCE PV energygenerating systemcoverts sun energyinto electricenergy

The kinetic energy of wind converted mechanical energy into electrical energy

Waste composed or recently dead organisms are used to produce alternative fuels for producing energy.

Chemical energy hydrogen converted to electricity ,water vapor and heat.

EFFIENCY 6.2-19.7% 20% 20% 20%

Co2 FOOT PRINT Zero at point of use

Zero at point of use

Minimal Zero at point of use

MAINTAINANCE Minimal Minimal Biomass fuel cost and plant maintenance.

Hydrogen fuel cost and system maintenance.

COMPARISON OF ENERGY SOURCE

ENERGY MANAGEMENT AND

CHALLENGES

• The major players are BSNL, Airtel, Reliance, Vodafone, Idea.

• Bharti Airtel has no clear cut policies regarding the emission of GHG (Green

House Gas) but it has committed to solarizing 2000 mobile towers.

• Reliance has no plans for cutting their emission.

• The Vodafone group has set a reduction target for Carbon emissions of 50 %

by 2020.

• BSNL calls for increasing the number of towers working under solar energy.

But they don’t have other plans.

• Idea Cellular wants to develop solar-DG hybrid solutions and Hydrogen fuel

cell solutions but nothing comes into practice yet.

WHAT ARE THE

ROADMAP OF INDIAN

TELECOM COMPANIES

5

MAY 2018

The scenario in this case study is of a 3 BTS outdoor telecom tower site. The site

includes a 10kVA diesel generator and a 48V, 600Ahr battery bank. The average

electrical power demand of the site is 3 kW. On average, electrical grid power is

available for 16 hours a day only.

CASE STUDY: 3 BTS SITE WITH 16 HRS OF ELECTRICITY GRID SUPPLY

SMPS: 50,000 INR

PIU: 75,000 INR

DG: 2,00000 INR

ELECTRICITY GRID / YEAR 3,11,710 INR

PERCENTAGE OF DG, BATTERY, SMPS, PIU AND ELECTRICITY GRID

The site requires 8 hours or 24 kWh/day equivalent of back-up power .

To meet the site off grid energy requirement of 24kWhr/day, the solar photovoltaic solution should be capable of providing 33kWhr/day.

Assuming average of 4 hours of sunshine per day, an 8kW solar photovoltaic system will need to be installed. It is assumed that, the 8 hours of outage can occur during sunshine availability hours or during non-availability hours.

Considering average standard sunshine of 4 hours and 30% depth of battery discharge per day, a battery capacity of 1720 Ah @ 48 volts will be required. As per energy requirement of this site the installation area required is 900sq.ft.

At the current price of INR 125/Wp, this installation will cost INR 10,00,000.

It is to be noted here that the system life of a solar photovoltaic system is estimated to be 20 years and that of the battery is 3 years.

At the current price of INR 125/Wp, this installation will cost INR 10,00,000. It is to be noted here that the system life of a solar photovoltaic system is estimated to be 20 years and that of the battery is 3 years.

6

MAY 2018

Site Configuration Units Value

Site type Outdoor

Number of BTS 3

Average power demand from the site kW 3

Output Power Requirement kWh/day 24

Electrical grid

Unit cost of electricity INR/kWhr 6

Diesel generator data

Average DG run hour per day hrs/day 6

Size of diesel generator kVA 10

Landed cost of diesel generator INR 2,00,000

Average diesel consumption for 2.52 kW lph 1.8

Cost of diesel INR/L 60

Delivery cost of diesel to site INR/L 2

Battery bank data

Battery bank capacity at 48 VDC Ahr 600

Landed cost of battery bank INR 1,44,000

Battery run hours hrs/day 4

SMPS and PIU data

Landed cost of PIU INR 1,00,000

Landed cost of SMPS INR 50,000

Direct Cost of Energy per day

Cost of unit of grid energy INR/KWhr 6

Grid energy consumed per day kWhr 24

Cost of grid energy INR/day 144

Diesel consumption per day lpd 10.5

Total cost of diesel INR/day 662

Total direct energy cost per day INR/day 806

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DIESEL CONSUMPTION (LTR)/ SITES

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DIESEL CONSUMPTION (LTR)/1000 SITES

AGGREGATE DIESEL CONSUMPTION DISTRIBUTION FOR OVER ONE THOUSAND SITES

CASE STUDY: 3 BTS SITE WITH 18 HRS OF ELECTRICITY GRID SUPPLY

7

Dependency upon diesel will reduce & power interruption chance is very low

Low cost than the other sources like biomass, wind turbine.

It can be installed in the unused space. It not required any extra space for installation

MAY 2018

Saving and Paybacks

Items Unit Particular

Diesel Consumption/year Ltr 2,961

Price of 1 Ltr Diesel Rs ₹ 64.00

Diesel cost/year Rs ₹ 1,89,494.46

Grid Electricity/Unit Rs/unit ₹ 6.00

Annual charge on electricity

bills @ 18Hrs runningRs ₹ 52,560.00

Total Saving/ year Rs ₹ 2,42,054.46

Cost of 10kW SPV System Rs ₹ 10,40,000.00

Payback period Yrs. 4.2

Saving and Paybacks

Items Unit Particular

Diesel Consumption/year Ltr 700

Price of 1 Ltr Diesel Rs ₹ 64.00

Diesel cost/year Rs ₹ 90,000

Grid Electricity/Unit Rs/unit ₹ 6.00

Annual charge on electricity

bills @ 18Hrs runningRs ₹ 25,000

Total Saving Rs ₹ 1,15,000

Cost of 10kW SPV System Rs ₹ 8,50,000

Payback period Yrs. 7

Estimated Emission Reduction

form Each

Sites per year

Kg Co2

Diesel Consumption/year 2,961 7994

Annual Saving on electricity

bills @ 18Hrs9000

7560

Total Carbon Reduction(kg Co2) 15554

SAVING & PAYBACK FOR EACH SITES

SCENARIO 1: THIS PAYBACK

CALCULATION IS BASED ON FULL SPV

POWER SYSTEM

SCENARIO 2: THIS PAY BACK

CALCULATION IS BASED ON HYBRID

POWER SYSTEM

ESTIMATED

EMISSION

REDUCTION

8

MAY 2018

▪ Some in i t iat ives have been taken by govt . o rganizat ions to encourage the use o f renewable energy resources .

▪ As part o f the NAPCC the Jawahar la l Nehru Nat iona l So lar Miss ion ( JNNSM) prov ides support for insta l l ing photovol ta ic ce l l s .

▪ In order to decrease the r i sk o f deve lopers the NVVN would share the costs o f the pro ject .

▪ The government a lso prov ide he lp to deve lopers harness ing power through o ther sources l ike wind energy .

▪ In India the government set a target to run 75% of tower in rura l area and 33% in the urban area under so lar Energy .

Energy management and challenges

GOVERNMENT INITIATIVES

Conclusion

9

The Energy cost is a dominant cost component for telecom companies. The energy consumption is mainly for operating the Base Transceiver Station (BTS) or simply mobile towers.. Majority of the mobile towers are in the rural sector, where continuous supply of grid connected electricity is not available. Moving further 25 % of these towers are located in areas with no grid connectivity. Electricity availability in a day ranges from about 7 to 21 hrs. across the major telecom circles in India. In order to curb this menace the telecom companies keep a backup power source. The back up power source will be a 15-25kva 40kva diesel generator. Energy expenses constitute one third of total OPEX costs for telecom towers. Each tower consumes an average of 4000 liters of diesel every year. A telecom operator should have to spend Rs 3 billion every month for running this generators. By using the diesel generator the telecom sector is responsible for over 10 metric tones of CO2 emissions annually.

Cost Viability: The total cost of energy to operate a telecom site is major cause of concern for Telecom tower infrastructure providers. The rising electricity cost & operating & maintenance costs of DG, all together are pushing the telecom industry to look for Renewable energy solutions. Our study showing that the total cost of solar energy to run a 3 BTS unit is less among all other types of power sources .

Power Outrage: As per the above graph, most of the states in India are suffering from power cuts and scenario is more awful in rural areas. while Solar power allows mobile tower to run without power cuts.

Green Energy: As solar power is completely environmental friendly and our study shows that each 3 BTS unit can save up to 16000 kg co2/year which is equivalents to 9000 unit(kWh) electricity.

MAY 2018

10

DEEP RESEARCH | 360° WATCH

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