Jet powered micro turbine gensets offer a more efficient alternative to traditional DGs

It’s not often TowerXchange comes across a genuinely innovative alternative to a traditional diesel genset that provides primary or backup power to many emerging market cell towers, but when we heard about Bladon Jet’s micro turbine gensets (MTG), we had to find out more! While the MTG is cleaner and quieter than a traditional DG, with almost no maintenance requirements, what makes the MTG particularly interesting to towercos is the fact that they are more efficient and are one third the size of a DG, freeing up valuable space at shared cell sites.

TowerXchange: Where do Bladon Jets fit in the telecoms infrastructure ecosystem?

We have perfected and patented the design and manufacture of low cost jet powered micro turbine gensets (MTGs). Our MTGs are positioned to replace diesel generators as the primary or backup power solution at cell sites, thanks to our superior performance and reliability. Bladon’s MTGs are ultra quiet, clean and green, small and light, which is critical at shared cell sites.

Jet engines aren’t new. This is a 70 year old technology, and is the power of choice at 40,000ft. Our secret sauce is not so much a new technology as a manufacturing methodology that enables us to produce micro turbines economically in volume. One of our most important manufacturing techniques is a process to cut turbine blades from a single piece of material.

Our units are about the size of a domestic fridge freezer; much smaller than a diesel generator, yet they generate the same power. We’ve been able to manufacture to a price point such that our MTGs are commercially viable compared to reciprocating diesel gensets.

TowerXchange: How did your micro jet engines evolve as a solution for cell sites?

Tata became excited about our micro turbines and invested via Jaguar Land Rover in 2010. The first incarnation was actually in the Jaguar CX75 concept supercar, but the ancilliary application of the technology was for static power solutions for telecoms.

We are finalising our market entry strategy to sell 12kW MTGs into telecom. For us the towercos, managed service providers and MNOs themselves are all prospective clients.

TowerXchange: Which telecom markets are you targeting and why?

Given the Tata connection, an early market will be India. The continent of Africa is also a key market for Bladon’s products.

We’re going to the TowerXchange Meetup Africa in Johannesburg to share Bladon’s vision with African MNOs and towercos. With so many assets changing ownership in Africa, there is a new focus and financial drive to leverage tower assets harder. When towers are bought, or being prepared for sale, audits often reveal the assets aren’t operating as efficiently as the owner might have thought. But the new owners don’t want to create too much turbulence in the supply chain, so it’s important that our solution compliments the existing energy supply chain in developing markets.

TowerXchange: How small is “micro”? What are your size advantages over diesel gensets?

Our MTGs are a direct replacement for 2,000kg diesel gensets, which typically sit in a big cube at the bottom of the tower. Instead we use a cabinet that is one third the size and a quarter the weight. Bladon’s MTG is cleaner, greener, quieter, and generates little or no vibration (which can be a particular advantage on rooftops where noise can be an issue). Our size advantages mean there is more room for the towerco or MNO to put additional kit or two or more of our MTG’s on the site as additional tenants are added.

TowerXchange: Tell us about your solution’s maintenance requirements.

Micro jet engines are a low or no maintenance solution. Unlike a diesel reciprocating engine, there is no oil and no water in our solution. We have just one big moving part, the turbine itself, which runs on air bearings with no liquid lubrication. Maintenance is a key issue at remote sites that might be a double digit hour drive on a lousy road – the cost to get there can kill the TCO – so a technology with the potential to dramatically reduce site visits can be very compelling.

There is a very low skill requirement to maintain our MTGs – in the highly unlikely event of a turbine failure, our strategy is remove and replace, not rebuild onsite. For lesser maintenance issues, such as filter changes, the O&M subcontractor can readily maintain a stock of fuel and air filters – the technician simply shows up with an orange wrench, unscrews an orange bolt, and the process is like changing an ink cartridge on a printer.

As well as reducing fuel and maintenance costs, thieves are less inclined to steal our MTGs as there are few if any parts they can recycle.

Aspiring ESCOs that are currently in the business of maintaining traditional diesel gensets have an opportunity to profit handsomely by deploying a more reliable solution like ours – their goal of selling at a price per kWh rate becomes more compelling.

Our MTG unit has robust telemetry built in, so you need fewer field engineers as many settings can be changed remotely. From the NOC you can see if units are operating outside of their tolerances, enabling preventive maintenance rather than waiting for it to break.

Also, and not insignificant for the tower operator, is the use of telemetry to know where the unit is as well as having the inbuilt electronics to stop the unit operating if moved without permission – the same technology as a tracker system on a car.

TowerXchange: Okay, so what are the advantages of micro jet engines over other alternate energy solutions such as fuel cells or solar?

There is no reliable or sustainable supply chain to support hydrogen or methane fuel in Africa yet. As a technology that is hostile to the current supply chain, the practical challenges of keeping fuel cells running are prohibitive to embracing that particular alternative energy solution in more than perhaps 20% of the estate.

Let’s be honest, green power is not widely used on cell sites. In India for example, eco-friendly cell sites account for less than 1% of the estate, but tower owners still want to migrate away from the reciprocating diesel genset because of the substantial energy and maintenance opex it incurs.

We don’t see our solution as an alternative to a 200sqm PV array; our solution is so much more compact that the use cases differ significantly. Solar isn’t the optimum alternate energy solution for all cell sites; even in Africa, sites don’t get good quality sunshine all the time, especially in high rise areas with shadows. You can install solar panels on an urban rooftop, and find that six months later the neighboring building has had five floors added! Our solution doesn’t succumb to such vagaries.

Solar has to be a part of the future, but in the context of telecom towers it’s not a killer app, it’s a point solution. Our MTGs can be used to smooth power from solar as well as replacing a chugging tractor engine based generator. When renewables work the MTG can become a part core part backup, there are no startup issues even if it’s left idle for some considerable time between use. The fuel will contaminate before the genset has a problem!

But the important thing is that this is an evolution not a revolution – the MTG can be adapted to any local fuel supply resource. Bladon gensets, in keeping with all turbine based solutions, run on a wide range of fuels, including green alternatives such as natural gas and biofuels as well as diesel and kerosene. Bladon MTGs will also tolerate poor quality or contaminated fuels including fuel with relatively high water content.

TowerXchange: How does the capital outlay for your MTGs compare to traditional DGs, and when does the Total Cost of Onwership (TCO) crossover?

The capital outlay for an MTG is currently slightly higher than a quality diesel genset solution, but the price difference is a double not triple digit percentage.

Running for 12 hours a day in SSA in 30° heat then within 15-19 months the TCO will crossover having recovered the difference in capital outlay through fuel and maintenance cost savings.

TowerXchange: How near are your MTGs for telecom to being a market-ready solution?

We go into production at the end of 2014. The first batch of MTGs have already been ordered, and we’re selecting forward thinking partners for a field test of the first “off the line” production units later this year.

We’ll be manufacturing in the UK, in Asia soon too, and from the US in due course.

TowerXchange: What is the sweet spot in terms of the load your solutions can support? How do your product configurations differ for prime or standby power?

Both our prime and standby configurations deliver 12kW or 15 KVA, with output options 230V AC or 120V. We also have a 48V DC output variant that telecom clients tend to like. We’re keen to keep the costs of our standby units lower because they run for less time, so they don’t need to be quite as efficient. For example, we don’t recuperate exhaust heat, which also makes our standby solution even more compact.

TowerXchange: How do you ensure modularity as power requirements increase with the addition of multiple tenants?

Given that operators are trying to drive power consumption down, a new BTS might need 1kW when the last model needed 2kW. At the moment the applications we see don’t consume more the 2kW in total, so it should be possible to add a second tenant without upgrading the MTG.

Because our unit doesn’t de-rate over time, its ability to deliver continuous power is stronger. The MTG is a more reliable means of delivery of consistent power than a conventional DG for a multi-tenant site.

If additional tenants are added beyond what one MTG can provide, the answer is to add a second unit in a daisy chain. And if the power requirement reduces again, our units are relatively easy to relocate to another tower.

Another critical consideration is that the MTG can be in the order of twice as efficient as a reciprocating engine when running at part load.

TowerXchange: How do you bring Bladon Jets to market – do you sell direct or through channel partners?

Our model is to sell through partners. Towercos and MNOs need the credibility of boots on the ground to provide after sales service, even with a low maintenance solution such as ours.

We are targeting key managed service providers on the front lines of tower builds, upgrades and maintenance, with the objective of creating a pipeline for thousands of unit sales.

TowerXchange: Finally, please sum up how you would differentiate Bladon Jets from other cell site energy solution providers.

We’ve taken a well known form of power generation in the reciprocating engine, turned it on its head and married it with another established technology in jet engines, then developed a manufacturing process to bring to market an innovative solution with a lower TCO business case for telecom tower operators.

Micro jet engines are ultra reliable, super durable, low maintenance, and generally have a TCO runway in Africa and India from 9 to 19 months.

The MTG is designed to support the current supply chain, which means our solutions can be easily introduced with an expectation of a short term payback.

The fact that it’s an exciting jet engine is only so interesting – what matters is reducing fuel bills, and the ability to deploy it into the field easier and cheaper than a regular diesel genset.