HYBRICO is one of the first energy companies to land an ESCO contract in Central America. The energy provider has successfully deployed its hybrid system for an operator in a very challenging region of Honduras, reducing energy cost, increasing site uptime and minimising operational hurdles. TowerXchange talked with Luis del Cid, HYBRICO’s CEO and Co-Founder, about the company’s vision and ambitions as well as the energy challenges faced by regional telecom players.
TowerXchange: Could you please introduce HYBRICO and yourself to our readers?
Luis del Cid, Co-Founder & CEO of HYBRICO Energy Technologies:
HYBRICO designs, manufactures, installs, and operates smart energy infrastructure solutions for off-grid and on-grid telecom sites. We are leading the adoption of long-term energy-as-a-service and/or backup-as-a-service contracts with Latin America’s biggest MNOs. HYBRICO is committed to finding ways to maximise value to Towercos and MNOs for any energy challenge, in any telecom site, in any country in Latin America.
In terms of my personal background, I’ve been involved in the telecom industry for over 15 years. I ran Claro’s operations in Honduras and launched Costa Rica, later was CEO of Telesoluciones, which at the time was the largest provider of O&M services for active and passive infrastructure in Central America, with over 15,000 sites under management.
TowerXchange: What are HYBRICO’s strengths and competitive advantages? And why should MNOs and Towercos select you as a partner?
Luis del Cid, Co-Founder & CEO of HYBRICO Energy Technologies:
HYBRICO has years of proven track record exceeding customers’ expectations, both in meeting high-energy uptime SLAs in the harshest operating conditions, and in reducing CO2 emissions and achieving OPEX savings. As mentioned before, we are leading the adoption of long-term energy-as-a-service and/or backup-as-a-service contracts with Latin America’s biggest MNOs; both in terms of number of contracts and in number of sites under contract. Decades of commercial, technical, and operational experience, maximised by proprietary software that enables remote monitoring and control capabilities allows us to offer the most diverse, flexible, and competitive solutions in the market. We currently have solutions operating in eight Latin American countries and rapidly expanding.
TowerXchange: Could you describe your business model and share some success stories in Latin America?
Luis del Cid, Co-Founder & CEO of HYBRICO Energy Technologies:
HYBRICO provides its solutions in both CAPEX and as-a-service business models. We understand our customers’ needs vary and we are committed to finding ways to maximise value for any energy challenge, in any telecom site, in any country.
Three of Latin America’s major MNOs have trusted specific energy needs to HYBRICO. We are operating in eight countries exceeding customers’ expectations.
TowerXchange: What are the main energy challenges that MNO’s and Towercos are facing in the region and how are you helping them?
Luis del Cid, Co-Founder & CEO of HYBRICO Energy Technologies:
HYBRICO was born to help solve three main operations challenges of the telecom industry in emerging markets: levelised cost of energy (which is a combination of both energy and energy-backup CAPEX and OPEX), site uptime, and carbon footprint. Through our innovative tech-based solutions, we make it profitable for telecom operators to reduce carbon emissions and increase connectivity.
Energy-as-a-service and backup-as-a-service is transformational for telecom operators, and even though the value proposition clear, it fundamentally changes the way they buy energy solutions and/or solve energy challenges. Aligning all stakeholders (technical, operations, purchasing, finance, legal; both local and regional or global) has proven to be the biggest challenge, however we have already been able to convert 3 of the main Telecom Operators in Latin America, and are in advance conversations with others to help them transition into smart energy and/or energy backup as-a-service.
TowerXchange: How does the CALA market differentiate from other regions where you operate?
Luis del Cid, Co-Founder & CEO of HYBRICO Energy Technologies:
We believe CALA is one of the toughest regions in terms of building compelling business cases in energy-as-a-service and/or backup-as-a-service. Differences with other regions include scale of operations, geographic dispersion, regulation, grid penetration, grid quality, diesel and energy costs and quality of skilled workforce. HYBRICO was born in Latin America and is focused in serving the region, requiring us to deliver the most efficient solutions and maintaining flawless field execution to exceed customers expectations.
