ENERGY REQUIREMENT IN

TELECOM SECTOR

INDIA’S TELECOM SECTOR

India is currently the second-largest telecommunication market and has the third highest number of internet users in the world.

India's telephone subscriber base expanded at a CAGR of 19.22 % to 1,002 million over FY07–15.

Teledensity (defined as the number of telephone connections for every hundred individuals) increased from 18.3 in FY2007 to 79.67 in FY 2015nbsp.

The total, urban and rural teledensity as of March 31, 2014 were 75.2%, 145.8%, 44.0% respectively , showing a phenomenal growth over the last 15 years.

TELECOM TOWERS IN INDIA Over 4,40,000 telecom towers form the backbone of the

wireless telecom sector in India. The mobile subscriber base is expected to hit one billion or more by 2014-15 which would require more than 1,00,000 additionally towers to support this capacity.

Operation of these telecom towers requires electrical energy which accounts for a significant share of the operational cost of these towers.

The sector annually consumes around 3 billion litres of diesel to power its network towers. This results in an annual loss of around INR 26 billion to the state by way of diesel subsidy.

GROWTH OF TELECOM TOWERS

FY 08 FY09 FY10 FY11 FY12 FY13 FY14 FY150

50100150200250300350400450500

250280

328364

407 411 421 440

NO OF TOWERS(IN THOUSANDS)

NO OF TOWERS(IN THOUSANDS)

ENERGY REQUIRED BY TELCOM TOWER

The power demand of a telecom tower is determined by the configuration of number of Base Transceiver Stations (BTS) in the cell tower.

The power requirement of a tower varies from 1 kW to 8.5 kW, where more than 80% of these configurations have a power demand less than 3.5 kW. To ensure 100% power availability to the tower, it is backed up by a combination of batteries and diesel generator to supplement the grid supply.

At majority sites, diesel generators of 10kVA to 15kVA capacity supplemented with a battery bank of 300Ahr to 900Ahr capacities is installed.

FINDINGS The total cost of diesel incurred per year by the telecom

tower companies is INR150 billion IN 2015, the railways being the top consumer.

A Per day consumption of electricity by towers all over India is 47520MWHr.

With an average 12 hours operation the total electricity produced by diesel generator is 23760MWHr,which goes unaccounted for.

So on an average the electricity department is loosing INR120 millions per day. Approx. INR44 billion per year.

FINDINGS

• Total electricity production capacity is 7000MW can power all the north eastern part of the country where consumption is 3510MW, and we can power Delhi.

• Cost of 1 gen set 1.5lac, total cost of all genset is 6600crore, 600crore more than budget allocated to swach bharat avhiyan.

• In Delhi total no. of towers is 11000, total diesel consumed is 11% of the annual diesel consumption of Delhi.

HOW IT WORKS The power from the electricity grid is fed

into the Power Interface Unit (PIU) that selects the best phase of the 3 phase electrical grid and further provides power to the rectifier or switched mode power supply (SMPS).

The SMPS converts the 220 VAC to -48 VDC (in some cases to 24 VDC) which provides power to the telecom tower equipment and additionally, charges the batteries.

In case of power failure of grid supply, the PIU sends a signal to the diesel generator and the diesel generator supplements the power supply in a few minutes.

TOWER DENSITY OF INDIA

0

5000

10000

15000

20000

25000

30000

35000 No. ofTower No. ofTower

REASON FOR DIESEL GENERATOR The electricity available in different states varies from 7 to 21

hours a day in India. Most of the telecom towers are located in rural and semi-urban areas where electricity supply is irregular.

Solar PV cell is unreliable due to limited hours of sunshine, not feasible for high energy requirement of the telecom towers.

Wind energy is more unreliable as it is confined to states of Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu, Gujarat, Karnataka, Andhra Pradesh, Madhya Pradesh and parts of Orissa .

The fuel cells are evolving and may be used in the future as a source of energy.

GRID AVAILABITY IN INDIA

0

5

10

15

20

25

19.1

13.8

7.4

18.921.5

13.8

19.117.2

7.2

18.520.719.5

12.7

18.120.7

13.8

18.419.316.7

20.3

8.810.4

AVAILABILTY FOR DAY(HOURS)

AVAILABILTY FOR DAY(HOURS)

CHALLENGES TO GO GREEN Telecom operators claims the

capex cost of putting up a solar unit ranges from 11lac to 15lac and would burden the industry by INR 660billion.

The telecom industry is already stretched and reeling under INR2,70,000crore so it is not in a postion.

India,s telecom sector, including independent tower operators, have huge debt on their books, due to expensive spectrum options and roll out costs.

IMPACT ON ENVIRONMENT The rise of wireless telecommunication has not come without

concerns. The exact impact of Electro-Magnetic Field (EMF) emissions from towers is yet to be confirmed despite several scientific studies

The use of diesel generator has a disadvantage of increasing carbon emission, which has a negative impact on the environment. The diesel generators also emit 6.6 million metric tons of CO2 annually.

The diesel generators are of 10-15 kVA capacity consume 2 litres of diesel per hour and produce 2.63 kg of CO2 per litre.

GOVERNMENT REGULATIONS At least 50% of all rural towers and 33% of the urban towers are to

be powered by hybrid power (Renewable Energy Technologies (RET) + Grid power) by 2015, while all rural towers and 50% of urban towers are to be hybrid powered by 2020.

All service providers to declare the carbon footprint of their network operations twice a year to TRAI.

Sharing of the infrastructure using passive as well active methodologies should be done to minimize the eventuality of locating new sites within the vicinity of existing towers.

The total power consumption of each BTS should not exceed 500W by the year 2020.

Energy efficient radio networks that reduce overall power and energy consumption should be designed by the network operators.

RECOMMENDATION By modifying networks to enable turning off extra TRXs of BTS

during off peak periods or night hours of low traffic.‐ Fuel Cell: The fuel cells use Hydrogen and some other

hydrocarbons to generate energy. There is no emission of carbon from these cells.

Operators plan networks to optimise cost. Wherever possible and viable, energy efficient equipment is installed.

The Telecom Engineering Centre (TEC), which is the technical body for telecom for government of India, should be fully involved in the standardization of energy efficient technologies.

RECOMMENDATION Designing low energy base station sites which do not require

air-conditioning Deploying base stations powered by renewable energy‐ Reducing mobile device life cycle emissions through design

and recycling. Government in the initial stages needs to support adoption of

renewable sources of energy in forms like capital expenditure subsidy, concessional rates for various Government levies/taxes etc.

Soft loans for setting up renewable energy enterprises need to be available.

GO GREENTHANK YOU

QUESTIONS?