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Whitepaper BTS India TM en Final
Whitepaper BTS India TM en Final
Clean Energy
Services and Solutions
crossed 43.5 percent, with urban This puts intense pressure on the
areas approaching 100 percent operating infrastructure cost. The Power Problem
teledensity.
A quick analysis of telecom network
Tower and BTS operating costs indicates power
Infrastructure and fuel are the primary operating
costs, comprising over 30% of total
Underlying the growth of these operating cost. The primary reason
subscribers is the country’s Telecom is that in India, grid power (Electricity
Tower and Base Transreceiver System Board or EB power) is highly
(BTS) infrastructure. India has more unreliable and, in a lot of cases, not
than 250,000 telecom towers and available in rural areas. BTS sites
Source: Frost & Sullivan this population is growing rapidly to require constant and uninterrupted
The focus now is increasing keep up with the growth in additional power for the safe running and
penetration in rural areas to drive the subscribers and rural expansion.
next phase of growth. All stakeholders The BTS and tower infrastructure
including the government, the has gone through a transition--
regulator and the private players from operator-owned to spun off
have taken significant initiatives independent companies using tower
to promote rural penetration and sharing models, with both passive
contribute to and active tower sharing, in an
inclusive growth. effort to reduce costs in this highly
competitive market. The industry is
The growth is now increasing tenancy per tower
not without its and this concept has gained industry
challenges. In an acceptance. The leading companies
Diesel Generator example, India
operations of the network. As a exciting alternative to reduce the under the Jawaharlal Nehru Solar
result, BTS sites have utilized correlation between power cost and Mission. This provides capital subsidy
onsite diesel generators (DG sets) total operating expenditure (OPEX), of up to 30% of capital cost for such
to either provide backup or primary thereby providing a sustainable systems, to a maximum subsidy of
power in the absence of EB power. and reliable strategic solution to INR 90 per watt peak (EUR 1.5) for
Uninterrupted operation is achieved the fuel problem. While the capital systems using battery backup and
through a battery bank. The typical expenditure (CAPEX) to implement INR 70 per watt peak (EUR 1.1) for
configuration of DG set is 15-20KVA a PV system is greater than setting systems without battery backup for
with fuel burn rate of 2-3 litres per up DG sets, this is more than offset projects implemented in the current
hour (depending on full or half load through a reduction in operating financial year. Alternatively, there is
operations). Assuming seven hours of expenditure. an offer of soft loans at 5% interest
DG operations in urban areas and 20 rate subsidized by IREDA for these
hours in rural areas, estimated usage Government Policies projects. There are other benefits
of diesel fuel is 2-4 billion litres such as accelerated depreciation on
per year across the 250,000+ tower The Indian governments new policy the balance of the project in the first
BTS sites in India. Fuel demand is direction provides incentives for using year.
increasing with each new tower. renewable energy on one hand and
decreasing subsidies on petroleum On the fossil fuel front, the
India, with its excellent irradiance, fuels and a move towards market government recently deregulated the
has the opportunity to exploit pricing in this regard. price of petrol as India’s fuel subsidy
Photovoltaic (PV) solar power to bill rose to USD 3.2 billion in 2009/10
meet this challenge of onsite power The Minitry of Renewable Energy (0.3% of GDP). India’s Prime Minister
generation. Coupled with a battery has issued Guidelines for Off-Grid Mr. Manmohan Singh recently
Bosch c-Sistated
195-220 Wp policris
backup, PV systems are a viable and and Decentralized Solar Applications the government would explore similar
Rooftop Based • TOWER - The Tower is mounted on top of a roof of a house/building. 1.2 to 1.5 KWh per operator
Outdoor BTS • EQUIPMENT - The BTS equipment – Rectifier, Battery Bank etc. is also
mounted on the roof in the open in individual casings
• SITE – The site is on the roof of a house/building. Typically there are
people living on various floors in the house except the roof. There is very
tight access to the site and the site is very dense in its layout
• Airconditioning – None
Ground Outdoor • TOWER - The tower is mounted on the ground. 1.2 to 1.5 KWh per operator
BTS • EQUIMENT - The BTS equipment – Rectifier, Battery Bank etc. is also
mounted on the ground in the site in individual casings
• SITE – The site is plot – in suburban area – about 150 sq yards (125 sq
yards).
• Airconditioning – none
Ground Based • TOWER - The Tower is mounted on top of a roof of a house/building. 1.2 to 1.5 KWh per operator
Sheltered BTS • EQUIPMENT - The BTS equipment – Rectifier, Battery Bank etc. inside a
2.5 KWh per airconditioner
cabin mounted on the roof
(maximum 2 airconditioners
• SITE – The site is plot – in suburban area – about 150 sq yards (125 sq
yards). There is a boundary wall/fence around the site and typically onsite in hot weather conditions)
security person with a small babin/shade
• Airconditioning – Yes
market pricing for diesel. When BTS loads vary from 1.2 KWh to
this occurs, it will likely cause a 8 KWh per site, depending on the
sharp increase in the price of diesel number of operators supported by the
over and above the regulated price tower and the use of air conditioning.
increases the governmnet has made
the past few years. Assume a site with a single base
station operating in a rural area
These policies create a strong with the following specifications:
incentive for BTS operators to move to • Operating Voltage: -48V DC
solar power, since the ”Do Nothing“ • Battery: 600Ah Tubular Gel
approach has an increasing risk
• Constant DC Load of 1200 watts
on significantly higher operational
• 15 KVA DG set
expenditure.
meeco sun2com installation -Battery &
Such a site converted into a solar inverter room
Technical Study site using a meeco standard 4 KWp
sun2com installation would yield
Across various operators and sun2com by The meeco
savings in excess of INR 45 Lakhs
infrastructure service providers in (EUR 75,000) over a period of 10
Group
India, from a power load perspective years, with a breakeven of 3-4 years.
there are essentially three types of The meeco Group’s sun2com solution
BTS stations (see table, p.2): is based on a high availability Swiss/
German design. Built using best in
stalino module ou equivalente class components, sun2com projects
are highly bankable and generate a
lower total cost of ownership.