Backing up European towers: EnerSys®’ sophisticated battery solutions

With power cuts accounting for 17% of electrical communication issues in Europe, tower owners can’t afford to be complacent about backing up this critical infrastructure. With variables in location, climate, budget, maintenance and deployment, choosing the right battery and cooling options to keep total cost of ownership to a minimum is tricky. EnerSys talk us through their experiences of the European market and how they work with customers to choose the most efficient solutions to meet their customers’ requirements.

TowerXchange: Please introduce EnerSys, your footprint and your offering to the European market.

EnerSys is the global leader in stored energy solutions for industrial applications. We manufacture and distribute reserve power and motive power batteries, battery chargers, power equipment, battery accessories and outdoor equipment enclosure solutions to customers worldwide.

Reserve power batteries are used in the telecommunication and utility industries, uninterruptible power supplies, and numerous applications requiring stored energy solutions including medical, aerospace and defense systems. Outdoor equipment enclosure products are utilised in the telecommunication, cable, utility, transportation industries and by government and defense customers.

For the telecom market, EnerSys offers an extensive portfolio of premium flooded and sealed batteries to serve the industry. This portfolio of batteries offers design features such as exceptional performance, long life, compact footprint, high energy density, and ease of installation. Our batteries are ideally suited for a wide range of wireline and wireless telecom applications, including central office and outside plant. We also offer outdoor equipment enclosure solutions.

TowerXchange: Can you give us some insight into how you find the European market? How does it differ from the other markets you operate in? 

In Europe we have a large number of operators. This has driven fierce competition between stakeholders over the last five years and most of the European operators have seen their revenues declining. So, a number of savings programs were launched, merger and acquisitions accelerated and sale of towers became an approach that which had not been that common in Europe up until then.

When we think about tower market dynamics, one area to note is the changing tower ownership. Europe, at least in some areas (Russia, Southern Europe and the Netherlands) is heading towards the towerco model. In Africa this change has already happened overall several years ago. In Africa now, some operators are showing interest to potentially enter back into the tower maintenance/owning model. Also we find that discussions about ESCO models are popping up again, so these changes are obviously addressing some interesting dynamics and questions: who today is your actual customer and how may this change in the near future?

Operators now need to concentrate on 5G. The towers may be part of the infrastructure they need to externalise, so we believe that the towercos may grow their presence in the region. We will support them with the most available and adapted solutions.

TowerXchange: With reliable grid access in so many European countries, why is it so important for tower owners to think about sophisticated power solutions?

There are still network incidents even in Europe, so power solutions are a necessary backup for the electrical communications networks. Last year the European Network Information and Security Agency (ENISA) reported that power cuts constitute 17% of the electrical communications incidents in Europe. There is not only one choice of backup power for Europe but the choice of batteries and cooling options can vary depending on the region.

In order to support our customers with the best fitted batteries for their application, EnerSys has made total cost of ownership tools for batteries and enclosures where we can input key parameters such as the temperature of the city, the choice of batteries with different design life options and other factors, and the choice of cabinet (with air conditioning or free cooling) so that we can choose the most efficient solution to meet our customers’ requirements.

TowerXchange: For European tower owners looking to manage OPEX, what capital expenditure will deliver the most effective TCO savings? 

We can only talk about the power solutions we provide, batteries and enclosures but as mentioned it is important to look at the case through a more sophisticated lens and work with real parameters and then decide. One solution does not necessarily meet all scenarios.

TowerXchange: Looking forward, what do you think will be the power priorities for European tower owners as 5G and network densification requirements increase? 

The 5G standards are still not agreed but if one gives a hint to the tower companies it would be to followthe  evolving infrastructure needs; what the backup power need as “ load “ to the base stations (towers) will be and how that load will evolve. In general, one should also follow up the increase of data in the network, the energy efficiency of the tower equipment and the overall construction of the telecom network.

TowerXchange: Can you give us some insight into EnerSys’ vision for the future and how you will fit into this evolving market? 

The quality of experience in using mobile communications is very important.  The mobile network is dependent on available power and backup when need be. EnerSys is a powerful solution provider and a trusted partner in backup power solutions. We want to help and continually support the tower companies to back up their mission critical equipment.