Shaanxi Xintong Intelligent Technology Co., Ltd. is a leading supplier of solar power controllers and renewable energy solutions and one of the pioneers in providing renewables to both MNOs and towercos in China. The company is the key supplier of solar solutions to towercos nationally and has extended its footprint overseas, providing alternative energy solutions to clients in India, Pakistan and Bangladesh among others. TowerXchange recently interviewed Luo Lujia, General Manager for Xintong, to find out more about their solutions and expansion plans across Asia.
TowerXchange: Can you please introduce Shaanxi Xintong to our readers.
Luo Lujia, General Manager, Shaanxi Xintong Intelligent Technology:
For the past 22 years, Xintong has been researching and developing innovative products for power control as well as hybrid solutions for various industries, including the telecom sector. As the first player and definer of standards in the Chinese telecom industry, we serve approximately 60% of the domestic market and Xintong are also active overseas. Our solutions are suitable for various applications including remote environments such as mountains, valleys, islands, deserts and plateaus.
TowerXchange: You have a vast experience providing renewable energy solutions to power telecoms infrastructure in China. What are some of the main challenges that towercos are facing across the country?
Luo Lujia, General Manager, Shaanxi Xintong Intelligent Technology:
The tower industry in China is fairly new and since its inception, tower companies have been dealing with cost reduction and efficiency issues. These are the main areas of interest for Chinese towercos at the moment.
When towercos started operating in China, 4G had been licensed for only one year. On the other hand, in the U.S. towercos started operating during the 2G era, when mobile services and their technology were much simpler. Back then, both the mobile and towerco business models were very profitable. Towercos and MNOs used to have a very close relationship, and MNOs would invest more in advanced technology to improve their services.
During the past three years, the telecom department of the Chinese government requested the three operators to reduce their service charges, which has pushed those operators to cut their operational costs, and rental fees will be the first to be impacted.
TowerXchange: What international markets are Xintong operating in and what are the main opportunities for renewables in Asia?
Luo Lujia, General Manager, Shaanxi Xintong Intelligent Technology:
China is our main market but we have also been operating in Central and Southeast Asia for the last eight years.
I think Southeast Asia has a huge potential for sustainable energy deployment, not just in telecoms but also in other industries. In Myanmar for example, thanks to the overall reforms occurring in 2013, the mobile market has grown rapidly during the past five years and has become the fastest-growing telecom market in the Asia Pacific region. However, Myanmar still has a long way to go to modernise its telecom infrastructure.
Until now, approximately 60% of the country’s population do not have access to a stable power supply, and many areas are not yet electrified. The government goal is that, by the end of 2030, more than 99.9% of the territory will be electrified and the development of a solar power plant is a top priority.
Other Asian countries such as Cambodia, Indonesia and Bangladesh have a relatively high percentage of their population on bad grid conditions. Solar and wind are the best power sources to feed off grid and bad grid sites in these countries.
TowerXchange: How proven are your solutions on the field? Which clients have you worked with?
Luo Lujia, General Manager, Shaanxi Xintong Intelligent Technology:
Domestically, we are strategic partners of China Tower on power systems. Before towercos started operating in China, we cooperated with the three MNOs – China Mobile, China Telecom and China Unicom – to deploy their infrastructure.
Overseas, we have been focusing on Central and Southeast Asia and our end-users include the main MNOs and towercos in Uzbekistan, Mongolia, Myanmar, Nepal, Sri Lanka, Indonesia and beyond. Nowadays, Xintong enjoys a strong reputation across multiple markets and we’ve recently opened a new office in Africa to improve our operations on the continent.
TowerXchange: What are the primary differentiators between your solutions compared to your competitors?
Luo Lujia, General Manager, Shaanxi Xintong Intelligent Technology:
There are four elements that differentiate our solutions:
1) Integrated solutions with excellent power management: our solar hybrid power system can use any alternative power source including wind, gensets as well as grid power and is controlled by a central controller, which switches automatically the power priority. The system features an intelligent Battery Management System (BMS) to control the status of the charge and ensure maximum battery life and extended performance.
2) Dual backup with high reliability: the system management programme is pre-set to use every power module as backup and in case anything fails, the whole system will still work, which guarantees the high system reliability.
3) Strong environmental adaptability: all procedures including system design, spare parts and manufacturing are highly proven in different harsh conditions from high temperatures to frozen zones, deserts and islands.
4) Full range RMS: allowing the end user to set up a comprehensive range of alarms and data collection to fully analyse the performance of the system.
