“This transaction delivers contracted revenues of approximately £1.2billion over ten years, which is a major development for Intelligent Energy and the industry,” said Henri Winand, CEO of Intelligent Energy Holdings. “Our technology will not only help to bring a stable, reliable power supply to these towers, it will also demonstrate the full power of hydrogen fuel cells today, and in the future.”
The deployment of hydrogen fuel-cell power to Indian telecom towers marks a transformation for the Indian power grid, previously faulted for stifling India’s economic growth due to its unreliability.
Over 70% of India’s telecom towers experience power outages of approximately eight hours per day leaving nearly half of the country’s mobile phone users frequently disconnected for extended periods. Diesel generators are currently the main back-up power source, but as a fuel, diesel is costly, inefficient, and emits high levels of CO2, NOx and harmful carcinogenic particulate emissions. Hydrogen fuel cells are expected to be more efficient and cleaner and can be more economical on a total cost of ownership basis than diesel generators.
Essential Energy, a subsidiary of Intelligent Energy in India, will assume the power management for the mobile telecom towers and intends to transition around 70% of the managed telecom towers from diesel power to hydrogen fuel cells throughout the 10 year tenure of the contract.
Winand added, “Using our technology, India can leapfrog into an information-driven future without assuming the costs and experiencing the difficulties of first implementing a conventional energy grid.”
