Green is the Buzzword

Renewable energy generation is in spotlight, as regulationdriven requirement to cut carbon footprints get more pronounced than ever before

With over 1 billion telecom subscribers, India is the second largest telecom market in the world. Such a huge market is obviously being served by a massive infrastructure that guzzles up hundreds of megawatts of electricity. Given that supply of grid power is both insufficient and infrequent in India, the dependence on off-grid generation has been pretty high. The rapid pace of growth witnessed by the Indian telecom sector has also fuelled the need for highly reliable power solutions to support uptime needs of various infrastructure elements.

Historically, diesel gensets have formed the mainstay of off-grid power generation needs in India, and telcos as well as other enterprises have been no exception to that. Even the grid power in India is not so clean since a majority of the generation capacity is coal-fired.

The larger an enterprise, therefore, the greater its power consumption needs and hence its environmental impact. The telecom sector, in particular, is known to have a large carbon footprint and has long been in need of a sustainable power management program that comprises renewable energy resources.

Technology Trends & Challenges

Deployment of solar sites and renewable sites is gaining prominence. Solution providers are experimenting and launching battery technologies that can withstand higher temperatures, have more charge- discharge cycles and hence are long lasting and involve low capital expenditure.

There is a potentially huge demand for clean and alternative energy sources like solar as compared to the conventional sources of energy in the near future, and solution providers and vendors are likely to be extensively focusing on providing clean energy-based solutions. However, in order to meet the objectives of energy efficiency and reduce expenditure, companies need to deploy end-to-end solutions that are adaptive and scalable and can be adjusted to changing operational requirements.

Enterprises have also realized the greater need for power management. The market for energy efficient powermanagement and monitoring solutions in telecom is slated to expand considerably