Intelligent Energy to power Ascend telecom towers in India

Jan 14, 2014 - UK firm Intelligent Energy Ltd said today it had won a deal to install fuel cell system at Indian company Ascend Telecom Infrastructure Pvt Ltd's telecommunication towers in India.

The value of the deal has the potential to exceed USD 300 million (EUR 219m), with its first phase estimated at USD 82 million, Intelligent Energy’s CEO Henri Winand has told Bloomberg by phone.

"Because of its sheer size and the expectation that the number of telecom towers will almost double to 800,000 by 2020, India represents a huge opportunity. The market is already worth as much as USD 2.8 billion a year," said Winand in a press release.

The British firm, which makes fuel cells for cars, homes and businesses, will provide complete power management solutions, including fuel cell systems, for Ascend Telecom’s towers, which have a combined installed power base of 40 MW. It explained that the partnership focuses on cost-effective, clean energy solutions and efficient energy management that are to lower the environmental impact of India’s telecommunication towers in urban, sub-urban and rural areas.

At present, India has 425,000 telecom towers about three-quarter of which cannot have grid power for more than eight hours a day, Intelligent Energy explained. The facilities are most often powered by diesel.

By 2015 telecom operators in India have to use hybrid sources -- power from the grid combined with solar, wind, biomass or fuel cell systems -- to power at least 50% of cell towers in rural regions and 20% of their equipment in urban areas. Under the government's rule, these percentages jump to 75% for rural and 33% for urban zones in 2020.

(USD 1.0 = EUR 0.731)

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