Indian telecom sector and Energy Struggle

Diesel: Is the savior justified?

The power failure which occurred in North India due to the collapse of the interconnected northern, north eastern and eastern electric grid was one of the biggest blackouts in the Indian history.  The telecom operators like Bharti Airtel however managed to provide the services, thanks to the voluminous diesel consumption.

Due to the unreliable electrical grid supply the service providers currently use diesel generators, batteries, and a variety of power management equipment to cover the demand-supply gap. Today more than 60% of the towers in India depend solely on diesel for power generation .The telecom sector consumes high quantities of diesel to keep its towers working. The disadvantages of using diesel generators would include:

1. They require sophisticated maintenance which can be costly and less than timely;
2. Produces 5.2 million tonnes of CO2 emissions (out of 13 million tonnes overall) annually which is over 2% of the country’s total greenhouse gas emissions.

Considering this many tower companies currently use renewable energy sources such as solar, biogas and wind besides hydroelectric power, for their respective towers. There are off grid telecom model proposed by Renewable Energy Services Company (RESCO) which promise

• Dead simple installation 
• A business model that scales
• Low cost
• Low power usage

Interestingly the tower companies can earn credits (similar to carbon credits) that can be sold at a later time. However there are issues such as having to keep the solar panels clean for efficient usage and the unreliable weather conditions.

Another alternate would be Fuel cells: electrochemical devices that generate direct current and can be connected in parallel as a generator replacement. They can also be hybridized with solar, mains, batteries, and other power supplies. Their promised prospects include:

1. Greater reliability
2. Reduced CAPEX and OPEX
3. Energy conservation and eco-friendliness

I feel that fuel cell-solar hybrid solution may prove ideal for eco-friendly base station operation; the solar energy electrolyzes water to produce hydrogen, which is used by the fuel cells to generate power when the solar cells are down. This would not only reduce the risk faced by the telecom sector from electricity grid but also reduce the diesel consumption, thereby proving to be a beneficial backup.

SHRUTI

CLASS OF 2014