Andre Herbst is a 16 year telecoms veteran. For the first half of his career he focused on network rollouts in countries as diverse as Iran, Cameroon, Nigeria, Pakistan and Zimbabwe. For the second half of his career, Andre has focused on hybrid and renewable energy power system design. TowerXchange spoke to Andre to learn about Camusat’s e.power solution, and to understand Camusat’s vision for green energy.
TowerXchange: Please re-introduce Camusat for readers who are not familiar with your company.
Andre Herbst, e.power Product Manager, Camusat:
Established in the 1940’s, Camusat is one of the market leaders in the implementation of telecommunications infrastructure, with a footprint in nearly 40 countries.
In an extremely dynamic technological environment, Camusat helps telecom actors to efficiently build and optimise their networks development by integrating traditional telecom technologies with the most innovative know-how from adjoining fields. Camusat’s mission goes beyond the technological field: the company is also committed to promoting its employees’ safety and well-being; reducing its environmental impact and investing in development and recognition within Camusat host communities.
TowerXchange: What has inspired Camusat to develop your e.power solution?
Andre Herbst, e.power Product Manager, Camusat:
What inspired me to join Camusat in January 2015 was the vision of our Chairman and CEO Richard Thomas, with whom I share a passion for green energy and for its adaptation into unique solutions for the telecoms market. The development of e.power was driven by the need to be greener, the need to be more conscious of the environment, and the need to give something back to the communities within which we work.
I have been involved in telecom infrastructure deployment for many years, so I understand the diverse requirements of telecom operators. Power was never the focus as MNOs rolled out, but as networks grow and operators continue to extend coverage to rural areas where there are a lot less subscribers on the network but where opex is much higher, operators become more cost sensitive. So we are now seeing a shift of focus to saving opex. That’s where Camusat’s vast experience of operations, engineering and solar power comes in, and we decided to develop a power system versatile to enough to meet diverse internal and external clients’ requirements. We see a vast amount of applications of e.power, from MNOs to towercos, and for the assistance of communities around towers too.
TowerXchange: Will Camusat still integrate third party green energy solutions, where appropriate?
Andre Herbst, e.power Product Manager, Camusat:
Yes Camusat is still a systems integrator for third party solutions such as pure solar. In fact we have a whole team dedicated to pure solar solutions, and we still work hand in hand with Apollo Solar and other solutions.
TowerXchange: How has e.power been proven in the field?
Andre Herbst, e.power Product Manager, Camusat:
Camusat does an extreme amount of testing before deployment – a lot more than other companies I’ve worked with – we never want to deploy units that are less than 100% signed off. We have just completed comprehensive trials within our technical support group in our Romanian headquarters. Having passed this rigorous testing regime, it’s now time to deploy and I’m proud to say that Camusat is deploying e.power to Myanmar, Guinea, Madagascar, Ivory Coast and Mali and is currently studying this solution for many other countries which are interested in e.power.
For example, a lot of problems have been encountered with other power units in Myanmar, so our clients Apollo Towers have extensively checked e.power’s performance in trials, our technical support group have aligned the solution to their requirements, and our first units are on way their to Myanmar as we speak.
TowerXchange: Please tell us about some of the opex savings achieved from those trials.
Andre Herbst, e.power Product Manager, Camusat:
All our testing has been done based on physical sites. Based on a pure capex acquisition model, our systems can yield anything from 20-90% opex savings, depending on how the client wants e.power to be configured and what they want to introduce into their network – e.power is very versatile.
With the generator, fuel tank, rectifiers, distribution, cooling, and some times the operator’s telecom equipment all in one system, you don’t need outdoor cabinets – putting everything inside the e.power system saves substantial capex.
For example, on a typical site with a 1.5kW load and solar attached, e.power can deliver a 62% reduction in opex.
e.power performance test results
Andre Herbst, e.power Product Manager, Camusat:
The configuration of e.power is modular in order to be readily upgradeable from a 1.5kW to a 6kW load. This makes e.power exciting for towercos, as the power system can grow as their tenancy ratio grows.
Typically the towercos tell us where they are starting from in terms of load and where they want to go, then we undertake an analysis of the economics and resources affecting the region in which the units are to be deployed, such as the potential for solar energy, and we advise on the most cost effective solution over a couple of years.
We might start with a certain amount of rectifier modules, and design a battery cabinet that can take additional batteries, or indeed leave the option to add an additional battery cabinet. Sometimes the only initial difference as the site load grows from 2kW to 4kW is an increase in DG runtime – that means e.power sites literally have capacity to add an additional tenant tomorrow – and the towerco has the flexibility to subsequently invest in and deploy additional batteries, charger regulation and solar panels to bring opex down when the time is right.
Our solutions are designed to measure the individual level of consumption of each tenant on the towerco’s network.
We focus on making field implementation as simple as possible – it’s all pre-wired, plug and play.
TowerXchange: When we talk to towercos and MNOs about hybrid and renewable energy, there is always a lot of enthusiasm to reduce carbon footprints, but some feel that renewable energy is still too expensive – how long does it take e.Power to pay for itself?
Andre Herbst, e.power Product Manager, Camusat:
Under a traditional capex model, e.power delivers return on investment for a single tenant solution in around two years.
TowerXchange: Who is best placed to invest in, own and operate hybrid and renewable energy systems, MNOs, towercos or RESCOs? How do you foresee this market evolving?
Andre Herbst, e.power Product Manager, Camusat:
Towercos seem increasingly inclined to focus on owning and operating the physical structures and the associated real estate – they want to buy power by the kWh, they want to contract with trustworthy third parties like Camusat, and they want to hold those third parties accountable via SLAs with penalties for downtime. Similarly, MNOs often want to take a ‘hands off’ approach to power at greenfield sites. For example, we’ve just completed a major tender on a project where the client wanted to avoid the capex outlay and only pay for power used on kWh basis.
All Camusat’s own and third party power systems are connected to our GNOC in Romania, from which we can manage invoicing and billing.
I foresee the telecom market in emerging markets evolving toward a situation where power will be supplied and handled on global scale by companies like Camusat. Where power was a major issue for telecom site owners, now it’s moving towards a model where power networks are outsourced to and run by global players.
TowerXchange: If Camusat is proposing to take on the capex burden and sell power by the kWh, how will such projects be funded?
Andre Herbst, e.power Product Manager, Camusat:
Camusat has a strong financial structure and can count on a banking pool that can ensure funding for specific projects. Since each project is different, we carefully study and analyse all of them to provide the most suitable financial solution. This is done on case-by-case basis.
TowerXchange: How do you see community power services being integrated with your green energy vision?
Andre Herbst, e.power Product Manager, Camusat:
A lot of rural sites don’t need the peak load for which their AC power systems must be designed, which means there is excess power which can be shared with the community. It’s good to have lit up areas where villages can gather at nighttime. Or we can power internet kiosks; such facilities can provide access to the outside world like they’ve never had before.
In our job, I think it is fantastic to change people everyday life and especially that of children who live today in remote villages just by providing light and Internet access. We enable those children to access to opportunities they’d have never been exposed to previously.
Camusat feels a responsibility to the next generation, so we have a focus on helping communities around the cell sites we build, enabling the population to be exposed to a better lifestyle. Whether it’s helping bring Internet access to a school, or the simplicity of using excess solar power to pump clean water from a reservoir – energy can make an immense difference to a rural community, and community power services are often an easy add on to these kinds of systems.
TowerXchange: Finally, please sum up how you would differentiate e.power from competitive hybrid energy solutions.
Andre Herbst, e.power Product Manager, Camusat:
Proven by a vast testing programme, e.power is a versatile, flexible solution designed to be modular as the load on a site grows, and designed to be readily deliverable to places that are logistically challenging to reach – the system can be pulled apart and put together easily.
e.power is a fully integrated, complete solution with everything inside. Many other companies just supply one component.
Camusat has the capacity to provide e.power as a kWh solution.
But Camusat’s biggest differentiator compared to every other company out there is that Camusat is based in-country; our vast global support network is there to support the e.power system across and beyond our nearly 40 country footprint. Camusat’s vast knowledge and experience means we are able to advise clients on the most effective methodology of powering their network.
We install and provide maintenance of a system that WE have developed.
