Eaton Towers are Africa’s fourth largest towerco, with a portfolio of over 5000 sites across five markets, one fifth of which are off-grid. TowerXchange catch up with Eaton’s COO Pankaj Kulshrestha to understand the current technologies at their sites and get some insight into what the towerco thinks of the different solutions on the market.
TowerXchange: Please can you describe the energy profile of Eaton’s sites across its markets and what power systems you currently have in place
Pankaj Kulshrestha, COO, Eaton Towers:
Eaton Towers owns, operates and manages cell sites across five countries currently, namely Kenya, Uganda, Ghana, Burkina Faso and Niger. On an overall basis, roughly a fifth of the sites are off grid. The situation varies vastly from country to country; Kenya and Ghana have a very healthy percentage of on grid sites, whereas there are relatively more off grid sites in Burkina Faso and Niger. Industry standard power systems for telecom operations have been deployed on our sites, these include rectifiers, controllers, storage solutions and secondary power sources.
TowerXchange: Eaton have been undertaking some energy pilot projects, can you explain the scope of these pilots and what technologies are being assessed.
Pankaj Kulshrestha, COO, Eaton Towers:
Pilots are an ongoing activity and solutions being tried out include solar, DCDGs, storage solutions and cooling solutions etc. We will be implementing some solar sites in the months to come
TowerXchange: To what extent do you see different types of power technologies as commodity items?
Pankaj Kulshrestha, COO, Eaton Towers:
In our experience, most of the available solutions in the power space are equivalent in nature with a few differentiators. There is a lot of evolution and innovation happening but equally, the same features are introduced by most of the suppliers almost simultaneously. Our preference is also for standard types of products so that we can optimise on inventory, logistics, repair and maintenance. Emphasis is on reliable and robust products. Cost is certainly a consideration.
TowerXchange: How are Eaton working to improve the robustness and lifespan of energy systems?
Pankaj Kulshrestha, COO, Eaton Towers:
We try to ensure adherence to the PM schedules. CM is followed up with RCA to identify the exact cause of failure, which is then addressed fully. Periodical and timely servicing of the key power components like diesel generators and batteries are done with regular monitoring and follow up. This has proved to be the best method for ensuring smooth operations and optimal performance for the customer.
Our preference is for standard types of products so that we can optimise on inventory, logistics, repair and maintenance. Emphasis is on reliable and robust products
TowerXchange: What potential do you see held by solar-hybrid solutions across Eaton’s portfolio?
Pankaj Kulshrestha, COO, Eaton Towers:
Solar solutions on cell sites do show results, but because of the small scale of installations, are a challenge to maintain from a long term perspective. In my view, it is much easier operationally to run and maintain MW scale plants rather than a number of small kW sized plants on cell sites.
Despite the costs going down, solar is still capex heavy and the efficiency of small power plants is not entirely optimal. To elaborate, there is a significant difference in the average yield per day between small power plants of around 8-12kWp as compared to MW scale installations.
Furthermore, availability of clear sun facing space is a major challenge on cell sites.
TowerXchange: What are Eaton’s thoughts on lithium ion batteries, do you see significant potential to replace lead acid batteries on sites?
Pankaj Kulshrestha, COO, Eaton Towers:
The solution is under evaluation. The initial results are encouraging, but this being a new technology, we will need to watch the results for a longer period, say 12-18 months. That is when the true cost benefit will be known. The upfront costs are still high as compared to conventional storage solutions
TowerXchange: We’ve seen a growing interest from Africa’s MNOs in piloting ESCO agreements, having experience in the Indian market working with ESCOs how do you see the opportunity stacking up in Africa?
Pankaj Kulshrestha, COO, Eaton Towers:
Some ESCOs seem to have the backend funding commitments in place, but their dependence on third party agencies for the last mile operations seems to only be adding another layer in the delivery system. Further there is no scale or volume advantage evidently visible at this stage. My view is that unless the ESCOs own the complete ecosystem end to end, the value proposition will be difficult to realise.
