Nam Paik has been with TSi Power for 25 years. During this time, he has seen the business switch from a focus on indoor UPS to robust outdoor UPS with a wide-input range capable of maximising use of grid power in challenging emerging market situations. In this interview, Nam explains how to overcome common challenges such as voltage variances, rolling blackouts and lightning strikes, using examples from TSi Power’s work with clients such as MTN and Zain.
TowerXchange: Please introduce our readers to TSi Power.
Nam Paik, Director of Sales, TSi Power Corporation:
We design and manufacture telecom power protection, conversion and backup products for use by telecom operators around the world. Our primary products are Outdoor XUPS, Outdoor DC UPS, VRP and VRX, an outdoor version of the VRP.
TSi Power initially concentrated on indoor UPS. However, in 1998, our new owner Peter Nystrom moved TSi Power in the opposite direction from where the big companies were going. We began concentrating on outdoor systems with a wide input range and focused on an ‘anywhere in the world’ design philosophy.
With our larger competitors focusing on easier to solve power problems, 98% of TSi Power’s business comes from rugged, all-weather outdoor solutions. We develop power solutions for remote cell sites accessible only by 4WD vehicles and where extra-large fuel tanks are necessary to maximise autonomy. I like to think of TSi Power as an all terrain vehicle, whereas our competitors are luxury sedans designed for driving down the freeway!
TowerXchange: How can operators and tower companies protect their sites against downtime due to rolling blackouts?
Nam Paik, Director of Sales, TSi Power Corporation:
For telecom sites without backup generators, telecom service outages can occur when the site loses utility power or when the battery backup time is insufficient to ride through a six-hour power outage. Such outages are common in emerging markets, where a lack of generation capacity results in daily power cuts of several hours as utilities resort to “rolling blackouts” to spread the power shortage evenly among all customers.
When telecom-grade battery backup units, such as Outdoor XUPS or Outdoor DC UPS with over eight hours of battery capacity are used to prevent service downtime, it results in opex minimisation and increases customer satisfaction, rather than risking customer complaints and defections to competitors.
TowerXchange: Why is surge protection so important at emerging market cell sites?
Nam Paik, Director of Sales, TSi Power Corporation:
Due to lack of budgets and resources on the part of utilities, there is very little utility-provided surge protection against lightning strikes or other transient events on an AC power line, resulting in frequent and catastrophic equipment damage when lightning strikes overhead transmission lines or nearby structures.
The result can be telecom service outages of several hours while damaged equipment is being repaired (or several days if lightning damaged equipment cannot be repaired in the field and must be replaced). This can be very costly to telecom operators both in terms of equipment repair/replacement costs and customer defections to competing carriers.
The correct implementation of surge protective devices will minimise telecom equipment damage and resulting telecom service outages.
TowerXchange: TowerXchange attended a recent GSMA GPM Working Group in Nigeria, where we heard complaints that at unreliable grid sites with six hours per day of grid, only 60% of that power could be used. How much grid power can be rendered usable through line conditioning and voltage regulation?
Nam Paik, Director of Sales, TSi Power Corporation:
The voltage of the AC mains is subject to variances, particularly in countries like Nigeria. Sensitive, expensive telecom equipment typically has a +/- 20% tolerance, but voltage varies +/- 30%. So you need AVR (automatic voltage regulation), surge protection and backup generators in case of mains interruption.
The voltage of the AC mains is subject to variances, particularly in countries like Nigeria. Sensitive, expensive telecom equipment typically has a +/- 20% tolerance, but voltage varies +/- 30%. So you need AVR (automatic voltage regulation), surge protection and backup generators in case of mains interruption
High quality, telecom-grade AVR such as TSi Power’s VRP or VRX will extend the useful voltage range to plus or minus 30%, or 160-320v, which should be sufficient to cover the variances in Nigeria. Below 160v, electricity is useless and dangerous – motors will jam, so power companies usually cut the power below 160v. Similarly over 280v they should cut the power off, but that’s not always the case in Africa, where the culture is typically “we’ll give you any power we can generate!” This means it is critical for cell site owners to buy their own protection system, including cut off switches and voltage regulators.
Having the widest input voltage regulator is key. For example, this contributed to MTN Uganda’s success and market leadership. MTN were proactive in anticipating problems, and addressed the need for voltage regulation ahead of their competitors. While MTN invested in TSi Power’s premium solution, some of their competitors deployed cheaper solutions with a narrower input range. Uptime was affected, QoS and reputation suffered, so MTN’s market leadership increased.
TowerXchange: One of the first questions our readers ask is “how proven is the solution in emerging markets”? So tell us how your solutions are used in Uganda.
Nam Paik, Director of Sales, TSi Power Corporation:
MTN Uganda started using TSi Power’s VRE-3000 units early in 1998 when the rectifiers powering their first 50 cellular base stations failed frequently. This was because the nominal 230 vac mains voltage in Uganda can vary from 160 vac during peak working hours to 300 vac in the middle of the night.
By 2003, several hundred VRE-3000 units were being used to protect all of MTN Uganda’s BTS equipment against unstable mains AC voltages. In early 2004, VRP-3000/5500 replaced the VRE-3000/5000 – the VRP series precision PWM voltage regulators provided an even higher level of performance and reliability by providing a cycle-by-cycle correction of output voltage and 230 vac +/-3% voltage.
MTN Uganda has purchased several hundred VRP-5500 units since 2004, including 170 more VRP units for installation at 170 new locations built during 2010. They report having even better performance and reliability results. There were about 1,000 TSi Power’s AVR units operating in Uganda by the end of 2010.
Uganda Telecom and Celtel Uganda (now Zain Uganda) have also used many of TSi Power’s products.
UltraTec in Uganda has been TSi Power’s partner in Uganda since, taking care of MTN Uganda and all other customers in Uganda with logistical services, warranty repair and out-of-warranty repair service work.
TowerXchange: I believe TSi Power solutions are also in use in Nigeria, Ghana, Cote d’Ivore, Congo and Zambia…
Nam Paik, Director of Sales, TSi Power Corporation:
In 2004, TSi Power won a large contract from V-Mobile in Nigeria (now Airtel Nigeria) to supply about 300 sets of VRP-ILC. From 2004 to 2007, Celtel Nigeria and other Nigerian mobile phone companies purchased and installed about 1,000 VRP-ILC units in Nigeria.
In late 2008, Zain Ghana purchased more than 100 Outdoor VRP-ILC -15000- 5339 units for their network upgrade and expansion program in early 2009.
TSi Power won two large contracts from MTN Cote d’Ivore for over 600 Outdoor VRP-ILC -15000-5339 units for their network expansion project in 2007 and 2008.
We have also installed CRE-3000 units at 30 sites for a satellite communications company in Congo, as well as at 50 regional satellite communication sites in Zambia where the UPS systems kept shutting down due to unstable mains AC voltages. After five years, all 50 SLC units are still operating flawlessly.
We also have equipment installed in India, Pakistan and Mexico.
TowerXchange: What should be the priorities when optimising the energy efficiency of emerging market cell sites?
Nam Paik, Director of Sales, TSi Power Corporation:
Minimise power consumption with low energy equipment and create economies of scale by deploying uniform AVR and UPS solutions.
The first step is to replace any transmitters that are more than five to six years old. While old transmitters might require 5000w for a single signal, new energy efficient transmitters might use 3000w to carry signals from three or four carriers, using less kWh to produce three to four times the revenue from a shared site.
Air conditioning is a particularly inefficient use of energy, so consider installing air-cooled transmitters that don’t need an air conditioned container.
Install an AVR like ours to maximise use of grid power – while unreliable, mains is typically the cheapest power available. Ten-year-old AVRs will frequently break down, so invest in new solutions to maintain the 99.9% uptime that customers expect, otherwise you risk creating a risk of single point of failure at a shared site that can interrupt multiple operators’ revenue.
I would recommend installing slightly oversized rectifiers to charge 12 hours of battery power. With such a solution, if power is only available half the time, you can run on your fully charged batteries for the other half of the time. This system reduces DG runtime and cuts fuel consumption by 90-95%. I would also recommend installing solar panels if you can make your sites look boring to protect from vandalism and theft!
Selecting an energy storage solution like Durathon, with a 15-year lifetime even under challenging conditions with daily charge and discharge, is worth the capital outlay – proactive thinking is required to succeed in this business!
TowerXchange: What are the design elements that contribute to maximising robustness and temperature resilience in outdoor systems?
Nam Paik, Director of Sales, TSi Power Corporation:
Conventional power conversion systems are designed for benign indoor environments only and are not suitable for use in outdoor conditions, where they will quickly fail. Unlike indoor power conversion systems, outdoor systems must be specifically designed and manufactured for the challenging outdoor conditions. It is crucial that inclement weather, contaminants, corrosive substances, moisture, vibration and other hazards are not able to damage the system.
TowerXchange: How do UPS requirements differ between DAS and macro cell sites?
Nam Paik, Director of Sales, TSi Power Corporation:
A typical DAS base station requires about 200-300 watts per transmitter, up to a maximum power consumption of 1,200 watts with four different transmitters for four carriers. Therefore, a small DAS base station can be powered and protected by a solution like our Outdoor DC UPS-250-7070, whereas a larger 120 vac (or 230 vac) powered DAS base station shared by three or four operators might be powered by our Outdoor XUPS-1500-7070.
In comparison, a typical macro-site requires 5-10kW for the three to four transmitters needed for a site shared by three to four carriers. When air conditioners and other ancillary devices are included, peak power consumption can be 15-20kW for each macro cell site.
Typically, three-phase AC service is used (either 120/208V or 230/400V three phase) for most macro cell sites, with a 15-22.5 kwatt, three phase AVR. They’ll also use traditional telco rectifiers, with a three phase input with 4 x 3kW rectifier modules for N+1 redundancy, 54 vdc output and a two-hour battery bank, just for the transmitters.
Most macro cell sites are backed up by a diesel generator for power outages with a duration beyond the typical two hours of battery backup time.
TowerXchange: What kind of ROI can TSi Power’s solutions deliver?
Nam Paik, Director of Sales, TSi Power Corporation:
Let me give you one example from MTN Uganda.
From 1999 to 2005, during their six years of network build-out period, MTN Uganda purchased about 150-200 VRP-5000 units per year to protect all of their new BTS sites.
At US$1,500 per unit, capex investment was US$200-300k per year, protecting tens of millions of dollars in annual network expansion capex. All of the over 1,000 VRP units are still in service at MTN Uganda in 2014.
By 2005, MTN Uganda had over 1,000 BTS sites in operation throughout Uganda and captured 85% market share in mobile communication business in Uganda. In fact, around 2005 MTN displaced Coca Cola as “most favorite brand” which Coca Cola held for decades.
I don’t think it is possible to achieve such domination of the market unless MTN’s network reliability and uptime is over 99.9% (or less than a few hours of down-time per year). Being proactive in solving poor grid power quality in advance and spending 2% more capex during their during network expansion phase, MTN Uganda avoided being “penny-wise and pound-foolish” and avoided fighting fires later with scarce opex budgets.
ROI was at least 50 times the investment!
Being proactive in solving poor grid power quality in advance and spending 2% more capex during their during network expansion phase, MTN Uganda avoided being “penny-wise and pound-foolish” and avoided fighting fires later with scarce opex budgets
TowerXchange: How would you sum up the difference between TSi Power’s premium solutions and lower cost alternatives?
Nam Paik, Director of Sales, TSi Power Corporation:
Telecom-grade solutions like TSi Power’s UPS and VRP solutions might cost twice as much as out-of-the-box, one size fits all solutions, but TSi Power’s solutions have been proven to last ten+ years, delivering 10-20 times better ROI than low-cost equivalents.
TSi Power performs a thorough evaluation of the customer’s objectives, operating conditions and technical requirements for the telecom power protection and backup products we propose, ensuring that we provide the correct system-level solution rather than the “our box is 20% cheaper” approach used by vast majority of our competitors.
To protect expensive telecoms equipment from failure and to guard against churn and liabilities from accidents brought on by application failure, it is crucial to work with an proven, innovative outdoor power system supplier, such as TSi Power.
TSi Power’s manufacturing facility includes in-house engineering, assembly, testing and circuit board production, which allows us to develop and produce the needed technologies while minimising reliance on outside suppliers. However, we also maintain excellent relationships with key suppliers of major components, so they become intimately aware of our needs, as well as the needs of our customers. This results in improved efficiencies and quality over time – new systems can be quickly developed and existing systems can be quickly modified to meet customer requirements.
TSi Power’s workforce is highly skilled and has a very low turnover rate. This ensures that the specialised, detailed knowledge required for designing and producing outdoor systems is continuous and eliminates the need to constantly instruct and train new workers.
Many outdoor applications are highly individualised which warrant very small production runs – sometimes only a single unit – along with fast turnaround times. TSi Power specialises in low-volume production runs with the ability to custom design and manufacture products with short lead times.
Finally, TSi Power designs its own power conversion systems to very rigid specifications and very broad component tolerances, thereby reducing the risk of failure and increasing the range of environments in which the systems can be used. The systems are specifically ruggedised with heavier components and proprietary coatings to eliminate the danger from moisture, salt and other contaminants.
