Smarter, greener, together

Through it’s strongly vetted global partner network, holistic approach to energy generation systems and commitment to R&D and the environment, Delta Electronics’ business lives up to its reputation of “stronger, greener, together”. TowerXchange speak to Delta’s Senior Director to discuss the challenges that MNOs and towercos face in powering increasingly complex networks and how Delta and its partners are working with them to overcome such hurdles.

TowerXchange: Can you introduce Delta Electronics and how widely their products are being used by towercos and MNOs in the EMEA region?

Delta is a Taiwanese company and was founded in 1971. Today, we are the number one provider of power solutions worldwide. Our energy conversion products are used everywhere in people’s daily lives, and there is a clear commitment from our side about energy efficiency to reduce the carbon footprint. In the telecoms sector we provide a whole array of solutions from power systems for telecom applications, hybrid power, data center, networking devices and as well energy efficient solutions for telecom buildings.

By end of 2016 we acquired Eltek, a Norwegian based high-tech company, to increase our coverage in the telecom area to provide a full portfolio for all kind of telecom infrastructure needs. Both brands providing a complete and innovative solution range which is needed to address the energy challenges in front of us.

We have over 80,000 employees and a strong network of local partners in which we operate. We invest six per cent of our turnover into R&D to ensure that our products are cutting edge and also have a very strong commitment to protecting the environment reducing energy consumption and with this the carbon footprint.

Our company slogan is “smarter, greener, together” and this is what is really driving us every single day.

TowerXchange: How does Delta manage such a global business effectively, still bringing support to customers on a local level?

When it comes to our power solutions, the business is separated into three different regions; Asia, Americas and EMEA. As a business, we understand that the different regions have different product needs and that each region requires local support. In some regions, we have a direct office staffed with our own people, and in others, we have a strong partner network which helps to support our clients, with our partner network being particularly strong in the Middle East and Africa.

Our products are produced in our factories in Slovakia, India, China or Thailand and our local partners do the distribution, installation and commissioning and provide a local presence. Having local relationships and a local set up is essential in order to provide the best level of service to towercos and MNOs. We see as well a change in the overall market expectation moving from a “product” towards a “solution” market. And one thing is very clear that we need the right people and partners on the ground providing real solutions and services to our common customers.

TowerXchange: How do you go about selecting your partners and ensuring that they have the right skills for the job and complete it to the highest standard?

Partner selection is a very critical issue for us. We want to work with partners that have a lot of experience in telecom infrastructure as powering the telecom sector is very different to other branches of power infrastructure - our partners need to know, for example, how to work with critical telecom infrastructure and how to change and replace them. The infrastructure needs are very complex today and covering all kind of technologies like hybrid systems, gensets, lead and lithium batteries, cooling and many more. The complexity is how to control all these devices forming a system that is always on and proving energy savings and as well return of investments based on local requirements that can be very specific especially in MEA region.

When Delta work with the operators and towercos, we want to approach them as a kind of joint venture with our local partners - the clients must know exactly who they are working with and as such, we need to have full confidence in our partner network. All partners that we work with in the Middle East and Africa are long term partners. We don’t choose partners that will save us a few cents on installation costs; this never works in the long term, quality is much more important. Power provision to telecom sites is critical, with 99.9% uptime required by MNOs and towercos, no interruption is allowed.

TowerXchange: What elements of a power system do you see as particularly critical in improving site efficiency and uptime?

Rather than looking at a single component to generate energy savings, it is more important to look at the system as a whole. If we are to break it down however, it all starts with the rectifier which is the heart of the system. Delta has a complete range of ultra-high efficient rectifiers reaching over 98% efficiency representing the industry benchmark today.

The second, very important component is the controller that must be smart and intelligent. The controller main role today is to be a full site controller allowing operators to control and monitor all kind of active and passive infrastructure, rather than a controller of the power systems only. With this energy data management come in the focus and this is a powerful tool to identify further saving areas and an enabler for managed services.

For the cabinets our focus is on smart standardisation and high flexibility allowing operators to expand and modify sites easily based on their needs. For MEA region we see as well a trend for high security cabinets protecting battery theft and vandalism. The next innovation we are working on are cabinets using major components made from plastic like side walls, doors and the roof part. Our aim is to use recycled plastic that will help to reduce even more carbon emission and providing the same or even better characteristics like steel cabinets.

On top of this we are providing real energy saving features like hybrid solutions using solar and/or wind turbines for on- or off-grid locations, although our experience is that wind does not make commercial sense at present; we are mainly focused on solar power. Optimisation of Gensets is another very important solution reducing the overall runtime and with this fuel consumption.

Especially for MEA region we see a trend towards Lithium Ion batteries which will reduce the risk of battery theft and vandalism, Additionally we can save space and energy needed for cooling of lead batteries. Delta has launched a 40Ah Lithium battery just now and we are increasing the portfolio with a 50Ah and 100Ah version within October this year. All our batteries are designed in-house and providing the interface to our Delta controller.

The benchmark is to achieve a return of investments within 3 or maximum 5 years. Based on our smart product design and experienced engineers & partners we are confident to master this challenge whenever possible.

TowerXchange: On the generation side, what equipment do Delta have in house?

In terms of power conversion, cabinets, controllers, lithium Ion batteries and other components we have all kind of products developed and manufactured in-house. But this is not enough anymore to master the challenge of the future which is called “5G”. We are focusing on complete infrastructure offerings covering data center applications, networking devices like routers and switches, LED lightning solutions, EV chargers and solutions for entire building efficiency.

The telecom market will change quickly especially with upcoming 5G networks starting from 2020 and just focusing on telecom power will be too limited. The challenge will be to provide all kind of telecom infrastructure solutions to our customers together with our partner network. Focus will be on real solutions and benefits. Just a product is not enough anymore; there are many other companies in the world who are able to do this.

TowerXchange: Where do you think the inefficiencies come in when people are creating hybrid systems?

I think at the end it’s all about defining the right parameters. Just adding a solar panel to a mobile outdoor solution will not really bring the right efficiencies or the right energy savings to a customer, you need to take a bigger picture view. You have to check, for example, if there are trees which will create shadows on the solar panel; you need to find out if there is enough wind on the site; you need to understand what kind of genset is in operation and if, from a size point of view, it is too big or whether it is running on an non optimal mode; are the batteries are the right size, can they be changed to lithium ion batteries? All of this needs to be configured and you need to put some intelligence on this.

Then there is the factor of scale. It is easy to do this for one site, but if you want to do it for a thousand sites you need to have intelligent software in place. The software needs to be able to tell you which sites are performing well, setting the KPIs for other sites in the cluster and providing recommendations on how to achieve these KPIs, copying and pasting what is working between different sites.

Again, it is not just a case of putting the components together, but also controlling these components on a given site, and here, unfortunately, I have to say all sites are different. So if you compare a site in Germany to a site in the UK or Algeria or Nigeria all of the parameters are different, and these need to be configured. On the plus side, we have all of the experience to do this for our customers.

TowerXchange: You mentioned launching a new product shortly. Are you able to share any details with us about the new product and some of the advantages of it?

We just launched our own Lithium Ion batteries focusing on telecom operators. A 40Ah version is introduced already followed by 50Ah and 100Ah, which will be ready by October or November this year. We see an increasing demand for this technology especially coming from MEA region. Drivers are battery theft, vandalism, cooling and space savings. Lithium batteries will be still more expensive than lead acid batteries but the advantages coming from other technical characteristic and as well process changes that will bring return of investment to our customers.

TowerXchange: You discussed the monitoring capabilities of your system, what challenges do MNOs and towercos face when it comes to the monitoring and management of their systems?

This is a very interesting question because the telecom energy infrastructure are becoming very complex, especially with the launch of 5G we will have a lot of small cells and a more complicated and distributed energy network.

When it comes to energy management, I tend to think most of the operators have lost the big picture and this provides us with a big opportunity. Our ORION controller is a very smart and powerful tool that you can programme like a computer to be able to do a wide variety of jobs on site. It’s a site controller not a power controller anymore and able to provide data via the cloud to multiple services.

We are controlling the power systems, the rectifiers and the batteries and are doing extensive tests; we can also measure all kinds of different energy values on site, it might be the air conditioning, the lighting or the alarm systems.

One of the challenges for the industry moving forward will be how to collect all of this data on site and bring it together in such a form that it can be analysed and interpreted in a meaningful way. It can be done by an engineer on one site, but it isn’t possible for an engineer that is covering a thousand sites a month. In essence, we are talking about big data analysis; a single site generates about 15,000 energy values a month, so you get an idea of the scale of the challenge. This is turning into “Big Data” and huge opportunities to analyse and modify energy networks.

We are of the view that the analysis needs to be done on site. Our Orion controller, for example, can test a battery and send a message informing someone on site that the battery is faulty and needs to be replaced; or for example, the controller can examine the impact of changing from air conditioning to free cooling. If you relied on labour alone to carry out all these individual measurements and analysis, the cost of such labour would mean that you would never gain a return on the investment. An intelligent platform is essential for analysing all these data in a cost-effective way. As a company, this enables us to be able to bring expertise to the operator and give them clear recommendations on how they should be managing their energy in order to bring in savings.

TowerXchange: It is a broad question, but when we are speaking about the Middle East and African region, when it comes to energy management, what do you think are the key issues at present?

I think there are a number of different factors, perhaps the main one being the cost of energy. There is a clear energy gap in the market; we are not producing enough energy or distributing it efficiently enough, particularly in Africa. As such, the cost of energy and the energy gap is likely to rise. This is one of the biggest challenges for tower companies and operators. With the sheer number of sites in Africa in poor grid areas, there is a huge opportunity to upgrade these sites and bring state of the art technologies, be it solar, wind or hybrid solutions.

Because of the size of the challenge and the business model of MNOs, many have lost the understanding and control of their energy networks. Towercos in conjunction with energy equipment providers can start to address these challenges and bring knowledge to the sector. As well as bringing cost savings, this is also important because MNOs have often given commitments to local governments to reduce their CO2 emissions. When I look at operators today they have all made commitments to reduce CO2 between 30-50% within the next 5 years. One major global operator just announced to have all their sites powered by renewable by 2025. That’s a challenge.. Many of the operators have yet however not taken significant action or developed methodologies to measure their carbon emissions and reductions effectively.

One of the biggest opportunities for MNOs in Africa is to find the right mix of solutions that can tackle their escalating energy costs and carbon emissions. One of the difficulties is in finding the right companies that can support them in this endeavour; and in this instance, Delta is well positioned to assist.

TowerXchange: Lastly, what makes Delta Electronics stand out from its competitors in the market?

Our brand promise is ‘smarter, greener together’ which really sums up our ethos. We have a clear commitment to the environment in terms of efficient energy conversion that is final reducing our carbon footprint. Smart standardised products, innovative solutions combined with local reach and our experts will make the difference. People buy from people at the end and I am convinced that this is the most valuable asset we have in our organisation.