📋 Tender Overview
Rajesh Kaushal We have been present in Indias telecom power system market for more than the last 20 years and today we command around 60 share of this market. So telecom power systems is one of the predominant businesses within Delta India.Since the start of this business way back in 2000 we have done approximately one million installations of telecom power systems in the country. These installations are primarily into power conversion systems battery solutions renewable energy solutions and cooling solutions for outdoor cabinets.Whats the case for telecom towers to transition to renewable energyAfter the capex is invested into a telecom tower by an operator Opex operational expenses becomes its largest cost. And within Opex energy is the largest cost.Telecom towers are all across the country including very remote locations. While power availability and power reliability in the country have been improving power becomes a challenge for running telecom operations in every nook and corner of the country especially remote areas rural areas and difficult terrains like hills. To deal with this telecom operators use diesel generators along with grid supply.So the balance is currently being delivered by diesel generators and also by a combination of batteries put on the telecom tower. Diesel generators not only pollute the environment but also bring lots of challenges to telecom operators and companies in terms of their management in remote locations. These generators need to be filled with diesel on a day-to-day basis to run the operations. Further they are vulnerable to diesel theft or tempering.To deal with this one viable option is renewable energy such as solar which could be deployed on the telecom sites.Over the last decade there has been an increased acceptance of renewable energy on telecom sites.Lots of trials and lots of proof-of-concepts have been done and they have been successful. But one big limitation to deploying these renewable energy systems for powering the telecom tower sites is the return on the investment. Now with the technology growing by leaps and bounds and economies of scale coming into place renewable solutions are becoming a more acceptable solution for telecom sites and the return on investment is also improving.So in the last three to four years we have seen an increased interest in renewables from almost all the large operators and telecom tower companies to minimize the use of diesel generators.With a combination of good grid battery and solar solutions most of the sites are being converted into green sites and the generators are being removed from those sites.How many telecom tower sites have been solarized so far in IndiaAs of now approx. 20 of sites have been solarized in the country. Operators like Jio and Airtel are focusing more on site solarization either directly or through tower companies. BSNL has not installed solar in a big way as yet but has big plans for solarization in the coming years.So I would say the speed of solarization is very fast. Currently around 2000 to 3000 sites are being solarized per month.Delta being a pioneer in telecom power conversion and management has multiple products in its kitty including the most important element in site solarization MPPT charge controller. This is a power electronics element that helps the power harnessed by the panels to be made usable to the telecom sites.No. 2 is a smart controller. Whenever you deploy a solar solution to a telecom site you need to also deploy a smart controller at the site. The controller can manage multiple available energy sources at the site and optimizes them to the most efficient level. For example a smart controller will try to maximize the utilization of the solar power generated. It will try to prioritize solar power as the first source then it will try to use the grid which is the most economical source of energy at this moment. Then in case the grid supply is not available and if the solar is also not available it will try to manage the site with the battery power. Eventually if nothing is working out it may try to go to the conventional source of energy like diesel generators and things like that.Thus a smart controller also helps to manage the overall site operation most efficiently.How has been your experience with these installations What specific challenges have you facedSolar was always a preferable solution for the telecom industry. But high Capex and the return on the investment in solar installations were one of the challenges. I think this challenge is being dealt with efficiently by the entire ecosystem.The second challenge to deploying a solar solution on a telecom site is that we need to have sites that can accommodate a renewable solution at the site. So we have to reconfigure the site or we have to find a site where the solar panels can harness the solar available. So if the sites are in very remote locations then we have to ensure that there is enough solar irradiation availability. There is no shade and the land parcel can accommodate a large solar deployment.In the past we have seen that after the surveys not every site was qualified to put solar because not every site possibly could have delivered the best utilization of the capex. So that was another operational challenge.The third challenge is on the supply chain side. In the last two to three years especially during the Covid times semiconductor availability was a challenge. We have been efficiently able to deal with this challenge for the supply chain of MPPT power modules which is an active element or the primary power electronics element.Another challenge is the operational challenge. When we deploy solar solutions in far-flung areas where the objective is to reduce the use of diesel generators there is an ecosystem that works against us.
