GS Yuasa is a leading manufacturer and distributor of energy storage solutions which has been serving various industries for decades prior to its final merger back in 2004. The company has been supplying key mobile network operators with its solutions and is now actively doing business with independent towercos and ESCOs.
In this exclusive interview, GS Yuasa’s General Manager, Mr Soichi Hanano, shares his views and insights on the dynamics of the energy business and how the company can support green targets as well as cost reduction initiatives.
TowerXchange: Tell us about GS Yuasa.
Soichi Hanano, General Manager, Industrial Battery Department, Marketing Division, International Business Unit, GS Yuasa:
GS Yuasa is a Japanese company formed in 2004 by the merger of two large, 100-year old battery manufacturers; Japan Storage Battery Co., Ltd., known as GS, and Yuasa Corporation. At US$3.5 billion in sales, GS Yuasa is currently one of the world’s largest battery manufacturers.
GS Yuasa manufactures a full line of technologies including lithium ion, lead acid, nickel metal hydride, and nickel cadmium for the automotive, industrial, telecommunications and specialty battery markets. With thirty-six affiliates in sixteen countries, GS Yuasa has a worldwide presence operating under the GS Yuasa, GS, and Yuasa brands.
TowerXchange: Who are your key clients and which products are they showing their interests the most?
Soichi Hanano, General Manager, Industrial Battery Department, Marketing Division, International Business Unit, GS Yuasa:
Our key clients in the telecommunications sector are mobile network operators who own telecom towers to whom we have been supplying batteries for many years. However towercos and ESCOs, who have started managing passive equipment including batteries, are becoming a very relevant part of our business. We are aware that the independent towerco model is widely accepted in developing countries, where the need for cell site densification and extension is urgent and capex intensive.
In terms of customers’ requirements, we experience a variety of scenarios. Although our principle service is to supply batteries for site backup, the choice of product depends on a combination of factors, including peripheral devices, renewable generation, remote monitoring, electricity condition and grid stability.
GS Yuasa is a well established battery manufacturer with exceptional experience of supporting new applications. It is our strength to have a wide line-up of products such as long life VRLA, advanced VRLA with superior cyclic life performance and lithium ion batteries. Our new lithium ion products have cutting edge performance, which allows us to offer new approaches to energy storage that were not previously feasible.
The lithium ion battery has especially superior characteristics for cyclic life performance, quick charging and deep discharging and is attracting a huge amount of interest from MNOs as well as towercos, who use lithium ion batteries as a core power component for the telecom base stations in areas with poor electricity networks.
TowerXchange: What is the percentage of your business coming from MNOs versus towercos? And how big of a change the entrance of towercos represented for your business?
Soichi Hanano, General Manager, Industrial Battery Department, Marketing Division, International Business Unit, GS Yuasa:
I’d say to date 60% of our business comes from MNOs and 40% from towercos. However, the percentage of business coming from towercos has been increasing and we presume the trend will continue in the future, as the business model for managing telecom towers continues to change.
Today towercos are focusing intensely on reducing opex as this is the primary way for them to increase profitability. GS Yuasa has had to provide much support to towercos in their pursuit of efficient operation as we have considerable project management experience in terms of recognising and analysing telecom base station load patterns by data logging and proposing the most suitable power system, depending on the site condition. We then follow up with a field trial and, eventually, with the commercial implementation. Our approach is particularly useful for MNOs and towercos who have experienced site instability due to poor power quality.
GS Yuasa is working not only as a battery manufacturer and supplier but also proposing green power solutions that can contribute to reducing opex as well as CO2 in the long term.
TowerXchange: How does GS Yuasa address the environmental issues in markets where green initiatives are flourishing?
Soichi Hanano, General Manager, Industrial Battery Department, Marketing Division, International Business Unit, GS Yuasa:
Our batteries are usually deployed as components of larger systems. Their use in the power delivery system of a telecom base station is a typical example. We believe that the environmental impact of our products should be evaluated as part of the whole assessment of a particular application, rather than a narrow definition of battery production and disposal impacts.
In off-grid and unreliable grid scenarios, the choice of battery can strongly influence the selection of the primary energy source. Our lithium ion technology is allowing our clients to avoid utilising any fossil fuel based solution thanks to its high charge acceptance and long cycle life at elevated temperatures. In some sites we are able to avoid the deployment of diesel generators altogether by harnessing intermittent grid supplies or renewable power sourcess more effectively.
Having an overall cost benefit, in addition to environmental advantages, generally helps promoting green initiatives. Luckily this isn’t hard when diesel generators are involved!
Local operating conditions can have an enormous impact in the choice of the appropriate green storage solution. The lead acid battery is often perceived as an environmental hazard because of its heavy metal content. In reality, lead is exceptionally recyclable, therefore we can easily demonstrate its advantages as long as a safe recycling infrastructure is locally accessible.
Our company is unique in our range of traditional and new battery technologies, which allows us to provide an unbiased view of the most appropriate green solution to a particular application.
The lifecycle of lithium-ion batteries is five to ten times greater than currently utilised lead acid technology and their performance is not degraded, even if they never experience a full charge
TowerXchange: What performance and RoI can be achieved with lithium-ion batteries at unreliable or off-grid sites? How do life-cycles compare with lead acid batteries?
Soichi Hanano, General Manager, Industrial Battery Department, Marketing Division, International Business Unit, GS Yuasa:
Utilising lithium-ion batteries in unreliable or off-grid sites can deliver great opex savings and overall financial benefits. In fact, full charge can be obtained in less than two hours, which means that even in the case of frequent power outages, the need for diesel fuel purchases and delivery costs can be greatly reduced or eliminated altogether. For some sites we have shown that DG capex can also be avoided which allows companies to achieve the payback point within one or two years.
The lifecycle of lithium-ion batteries is five to ten times greater than currently utilised lead acid technology and their performance is not degraded, even if they never experience a full charge. These characteristics greatly improve the flexibility of operation and reduce maintenance requirements of our products. Soon after the payback period, our clients start realising the advantageous opex savings which last for many years until replacements are required.
Finally, the electronic state of health monitoring system is an integral component of our products. It allows remote monitoring to be applied throughout the life of a telecom base station to provide long term operating efficiencies. In particular it means that there is no need for local input from skilled technicians to maintain the operation of the battery. The optimum performance and replacement strategy can be applied to every site across a whole network.
