Green Telecom

Challenges and Issues

Manjit Singh
Sr. Consultant Telecom
msingh@vsnl.com
 The Greenhouse Effect

4/17/2015 2
 Introduction
Worldwide the no. of phones are 5 Bil in
2010 and are likely to go to 8 bil in 2020
In India also there has been phenomenal
increase from 621 mil in Mar 2010 to 900
mil in July 2011
The teledensity in urban areas is 163%
whereas in Rural areas it is 36%
There is great potential in rural areas
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 Introduction Contd.
Growing Teledensity needs more infra and
increase in Power consumption
This power comes from the Grid and balance
from Fossil fuel like Diesel
Both these sources contribute emission of Green
House Gases (GHG) with Negative
Environmental effects
GHG is one of the global challenges of our times

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 Introduction Contd.
The telecom operators are pushing for providing
ICT services in rural areas
It requires more towers. About 70% towers are
in rural areas
There is no grid power in rural areas and,
therefore; operators generate power from Diesel
gen. sets
Diesel transportation and pilferage are main
issues of providing power from diesel gen sets

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 Introduction Contd
One liter petrol causes 2.3 kg CO2
One liter diesel causes 2.7 kg CO2
One kg CO2 is produced by
>Traveling in Public transport 10-12 km
>Driving your own car 6 km
>Flying in an airplane 2.2 km
>Operating a PC for 32 hrs
>Producing 5 plastic bags or two plastic bottles

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 Some Alarms

In 40 Years the worlds oil would have run

out
52 countries with 2/3 of world population
are likely to have water shortage by 2025
By 2025 half of worlds forests would be
gone and by 2060 remaining will be over

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 What should be done!!

Save and conserve energy

>Save water before last drop of water gets
over
> Save Oil before last drop of oil ceases
> Save Forests before the last tree is cut

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Sector Wise CO2 Emissions in India

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Contribution of ICT
towards Carbon Footprint

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 Operation Cost of providing
service in Rural areas
rent
8%
4% overhead

10% security and taxes

38%

3% Insurance
5%
Maintenance

Energy

32%
depreciation and cost of
capital
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 Some facts
2 billion liters of diesel is burnt for telecom BTS
and 5 million tonnes of CO2 is emitted
3G and BWA services introduction will increase
GHG footprints
India is 5th in the world in Solar power after
Denmark, Germany, Spain and USA
7.7% energy is produced from renewable
sources

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 Specific Problems of Power
Power availability is a major challenge
Rural areas conventional grid power not
available
More than one lakh villages still remain to be
electrified
Wherever grid supply is available power quality
is poor and erratic
Power availability less than 12 hours a day.

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Contd..

Poor power quality mainly due to

a. Supply interruption
b. Sudden change in voltage
c. Under voltage/over voltage
d. Voltage fluctuation
Operators necessarily invest in providing
back up options

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 Mobile Tower Sites
Mobile Towers : 3.1 Lakhs
Power Requirement : 1 - 5 KW (24X7)
Telecom Sector Energy
Requirement : 14 Million Units per annum
(Green Peace report).
Energy is a dominant cost component for
Telecom.
Urban - 30% of OPEX Rural - 50% of OPEX
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Most common alternate
power solutions
DG Set
Transportation, storage, pilferage, high cost of diesel
pose major hurdles in operating DG sets.
Causes pollution (environmental & noise)
Inverter-Battery Systems
Low voltage and intermittent supply of electricity renders
inverter-battery ineffective and battery doesnt get fully
charged due to unreliable supply of grid power.
Operator depend heavily on diesel generator to power
BTS towers.
Power deficit coupled with rising cost of diesel pose the
significant challenge for the sector.

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 D.G. Operation
DG Running Hours : 16 20 Hrs per day.
(Rural / Semi-urban)
Each BTS tower : 4000 Lt diesel / year.
Last year expenditure on Diesel : Rs. 7000
Crores.
(Economic times 8th March)
Without Diesel subsidy the cost of power
generation shall go up by 20 25 % more.
We need to integrate low energy and low carbon
considerations in our operations.

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 What is Green Telecom?

Reduction in Green House Gases (GHG)

produced or caused to be produced in
running Telecom Services is called Green
Telecom
Securing efficient, reliable energy supply
and combating the climate change are the
biggest issues of our times

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 Green Telecom Facets

Greening of Telecom Networks

Green Equipment manufacturing
Environment friendly design of telecom
Buildings
Safe Telecom waste disposal

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 Green Building

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 Measures for reducing GHG in
Telecom Sector
Adoption of Energy efficient equipment
Use of renewable energy resources
Infrastructure Sharing
Improvement of grid supply
Waste Management
Better NW planning
Monitoring and reporting of Carbon footprints
Govt. support subsidies, taxes and levies

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 Renewable Energy Sources

Solar energy
Wind energy
Ocean/Tidal energy
Pico Hydro energy
Biomass energy
Fuel cell energy

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 Solar Energy

Solar energy is produced by using

photovoltaic properties of semiconductors
It is clean and have 20 years life span
It is maintenance free as no moving parts
are there
The solar energy costs twice of the cost of
electricity from fossil fuels

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 Solar power system

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 Solar Photo Voltaic Cells
1 Kwp SPV generates: 3.5 - 4 units (Kwh) / day
Area requirement : 10-12 sq mt / Kwp SPV
Installation : South facing, placement angle as
per altitude of the place
No maintenance (cleaning of panel necessary)
Cost of installation : Rs. 2.2 2.5 lakhs / Kwp
(SPV, battery & control panel)
Life : 20 - 25 yrs (battery 5 yrs)
High CAPEX Low OPEX
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 Solar/Wind power in India

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 SPV economics

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 SPV Savings

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 View of Solar panels at a site

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 Wind Energy

Wind turbine is attached to elect

generator to convert wind to electricity
Selection of site is critical in locating wind
turbine
Wind velocity being erratic we need an
efficient charge controller and sink for
excess power like running a tube well

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 Wind power generation techniques

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Wind Turbine Generator
Wind speed -National Average: 5-6 m/s.
Aero Generator : 3-5 Kw. (Smaller
capacity) Height : 20 mt.
1Kw WT Generates: 3 units / day.
Cost of 1 Kw WTG : Rs. 1 lakh
Life : 20-25 years
(Available in Maharashtra, Tamil Nadu,
Gujarat, Karnataka and parts of Orissa,
Andhra Pradesh & Madhya Pradesh.)
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 Ocean/Tidal wave
Very small power is generated
Ocean waves low and high tides are used to
produce elect. Small turbines are used
A reservoir is built and tidal waves are trapped
in reservoirs. When tidal wave drops water is let
out running like an hydro plant
A 16 feet tide is needed
In France enough energy from tides is made for
240,000 homes

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 Pico Hydro energy

Areas with high rainfall, steep flowing

streams, small rivers are ideal for this
Potential energy of water is used by
making water to flow thro a pipe called a
penstock
Govt and action groups are very active on
this source

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 Biomass Energy
Power is obtained from plants and plant derived
material such as food crops, woody plants,
residues from forestry organic component of
Municipal and industrial wastes
By burning these material steam is produced
which is used for energy
This method is Zero carbon foot print as plants
absorb CO2 and same is produced by burning
them

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 Fuel cell energy

Fuel cells electrochemically combine

Hydrogen and Oxygen to produce elect by
burning Hydrogen
Hydrogen is not freely available in air and
have to be produced from water etc.
The technology has matured in recent
years and has high fuel efficiency and
reliable.

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 Green Telecom Ecosystem in India

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 Green Telecom Challenges and
opportunities in India

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 Green Telecom Ecosystem

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 Carbon Emission
Mobile Towers : 3.1 Lakhs
DG set : 15/20 KVA
Diesel Consumption : 2.75 Litres / hour.
Diesel Running Hours : 8 - 12 Hours / day
Diesel Consumption : More than 2 billion litres
1 litre diesel emits : 2.68 Kg of CO2
Mobile Towers generating : Tons of carbon
There is a need for estimation of carbon
emission by the Telecom Industry.

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 Monitoring and Accounting
Fixation of bench mark standards.
(a) Units / mobile connection / month
(b) Units / mobile traffic / month
(c) Units / revenue generation / month
(d) Units / Cell site / month
(e) Carbon (Kg) / Cell site / month
0.84 Kg. / unit of Grid supply
2.68 Kg / litre of diesel consumption
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Objectives..

Utilization of natural Solar Power

Optimization of Fuel consumption
Minimise Run-Hour of Diesel Generator
Low maintenance cost.
Savings in Operational Expenses.
Eco-friendly atmosphere will minimise
operational hazards.
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Pilot Project
System Designed for
A Solar PV panel : 10 Kwp
Wind Turbine Generator : 5 Kwp
Battery (48 V, 2500 AH) Tubular VRLA Gel
battery
Charge Control Unit (CCU)
Centralized power plant, battery bank, SPV
2 - 7 hrs DG operation

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 Power availability for Tower Sites

Cell
Sites Elect Availability Description

10% >20 hrs Mainly metros and tier1 cities

20% 16-20 hrs covers most cities in tier1 and tier 2

Mostly semi urban and small urban
30% 12-16 hrs towns

25% 8-12 hrs Mostly rural area

Mostly parts of Bihar, and some
towns of Assam NE states UP
15% <8 hrs and J&K

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 Sharing power supplies

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 Sharing power supply

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Criteria for getting closer to green

Less energy consumption

Less toxic waste
Less pollution

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Initiatives taken by Telecom
Industry (1/2)
Green power" programs, exploring the use of a wide
range of technologies, such as bio-diesel, fuel cells, pico-
hydro, wind and photo voltaic panels
Aircel has adopted green initiatives designed and
implemented by Wipro Eco Energy, the clean energy
division of Wipro
Vodafone has adopted energy efficient cooling,
alternating diesel battery hybrid mode, reducing the
diesel consumption
Airtel has been rolling out its Green shelters concept
leading to major savings in energy consumption by its
network in India
Idea Cellular has deployed solar and bio-fuels on trial
basis for their base stations
As a step towards going green, all operators are moving48
towards paper less billing.
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Initiatives taken by Telecom
Industry (2/2)
Equipment vendors, tower companies and network service providers
are investing heavily in bringing out in bringing out green products

Adoption of Green Products and Green Process :

Bharti Infratel Limited was awarded the Green Mobile Award at

the 2011 GSMA Annual Global Mobile Awards for Best Green Product
for its pioneering P7 Green Towers project initiative that includes
seven initiatives which significantly reduces dependency on diesel.
These initiatives include Solar DG Hybrid, Variable Speed DCDG,
Fuel Cells, DCFCU, IPMS, GenX & Fuel Catalyst.
Ericsson has developed the Ericsson tower tube, which uses natural
convection cooling, to reduce feeder loss, resulting in a reduction of
up to 40 percent in power consumption.
Huwaeis has developed single RAN solution based on software-
defined radio (SDR) system to truly integrate multiple networks.
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Greenhouse Gas (GHG)
emissions from the mobile industry
Energy consumed by the network in operation
Embedded emissions of the network equipment,
for example, emissions associated with the
manufacturing and deployment of network
equipment
Energy consumed by mobile handsets and other
devices, when they are manufactured,
distributed and used, as well as their embedded
emissions

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 Global Initiatives
China mobile has BTS with solar, wind or solar and wind
combined power
Active sharing of networks in UK, Australia and Sweden
Better cooling systems of BTS by Swisscom
Nokia collects used phones and plants trees for each phone
collected
Bell Canada, BT, NTT Japan publish carbon foot print data and
sets goals for reducing these
Sprint has 75% power from wind at their 200 acre HQ in
Oakland
Pakistan is greener than India as they have solar powered all
rural BTS
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 India Initiatives
TRAI has published paper on Green Telecom
and asking operators for comments
TRAI propose to give carbon credits to operators
and methodology for monitoring
Incentives for using alternate sources of energy
Funding from Min of Renewable Energy and USO
funds

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 Efforts by Operators in India
Green shelters concept to save energy for
cooling etc.
Use of Biodiesel for generating power.
Biodiesel oil comes from used cooking oil
from Restaurants
Incentives for using renewable energy is
given to operators
Zero Carbon foot prints by operators
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 Conclusion
Converting solar energy in to electricity could be the answer to
the mounting power problems in rural areas for powering
telecom towers.

Its suitability for decentralized applications and its environment-

friendly nature make it an attractive option to supplement the
energy supply from other sources.

If we install Solar Photovoltaic Cells / Wind turbine generator ,

much of the rural power needs could be met, adequately cutting
down harmful greenhouse gases and reduction in carbon
footprint.

Carbon emission targets and energy efficiency standards needs

to be followed and disclosed.
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 Conclusions
Awareness of the GHG to the masses so that all
get involved in the campaign
Create Energy efficient solutions for sustainable
tomorrow
Industrial sector has to reduce energy
consumption per unit of product
In telecom sector Regulators have to fix carbon
credits so that they use innovative Green Energy
Technologies ( GET )

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 THANKS

References:
1) TRAI Consultative paper 3/2011 issued on 3rd Feb.2011
2) Seminar on Green Telecom held in BSNL HQ in May
2011
3) Replies to TRAI consultative paper by stakeholders

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