Telecom towers, huge power guzzlers too

With about 2.5 lakh towers powering mobile services to over 400 million subscribers, the telecom industry is now the second largest consumer of energy in the country.

According to industry estimates, each tower consumes 3-5 kW to run the air-conditioner, generators and other equipment required to keep the base station in operation.

“The entire ICT industry accounts for 1.5 per cent of India’s total energy bill. This is expected to go up to 2.7 per cent by 2020. That makes it the second largest consumer of energy. Of this, telecom infrastructure accounts for one-third of the consumption while running IT equipment accounts for half,” says Mr Ankit Tandon, Company Strategist, Acme Tele Power.

High consumption also means high cost for infrastructure companies and mobile operators. “Most of the towers in rural areas are run on diesel gensets since there is no regular supply of power. Even in urban areas, there are frequent power cuts and we have to use as much as 5-10 litres of diesel a day,” said a mobile operator.

Telecom companies are adopting a multi-pronged strategy to reduce energy cost.

Infrastructure sharing has cut down power consumption in a major way. A single base station requires about 3 kW for uninterrupted service. So, if three operators were to set up their own towers to load up the base stations, it would require 9 kW. However, since operators are sharing the infrastructure by loading up their base stations on a single tower, they need only about 5 kW.

Operators are also using renewable sources such as solar and wind to power the base stations. “Though this is more costly in terms of capital expenditure, it gives lower operational expenditure,” said Mr Tandon.

Operators have sought incentives from the Government to promote use of renewable sources of energy.

Since air-conditioning is the major reason for high power consumption at tower sites, operators are also deploying systems that keep air cool without compressors.