Exide Technologies sees a great future in TCO-driven power management solutions for BTS

Exide Technologies’ vision is for tower owners to run their sites with significantly less or no use of a genset, shifting to green systems and with that, altering the profile of batteries used on site. TowerXchange speak to the leader in high temperature, high cycling batteries to discuss how Exide Technologies’ high temperature, high cycling lead acid batteries are driving down TCO and what the company has planned for their lithium ion technology.

TowerXchange: Who is Exide Technologies?

Exide Technologies is one of the world’s largest producers of lead acid batteries.  We have 127 years of industry experience and operate in more than 80 countries around the globe with almost 10,000 employees worldwide. GNB Industrial Power is part of Exide Technologies and offers a comprehensive range of stored electrical energy solutions and services for industrial and transportation applications.

Our industrial solutions include batteries for motive-power applications in lift trucks and other commercial vehicles, and solutions for backup power and energy management  applications in telecommunication, electric utility production and distribution, grid control power, railway rolling stock and infrastructure, time-shift self-consumption of renewable energy, industrial and commercial UPS, emergency & security and other areas.

TowerXchange: How important is the telecom market for Exide Technologies?

Very important; Exide Technologies has been a global market leader in the stationary battery business for decades and telecom has always been a strategic market for us. We have been working with UPS OEMs, infrastructure vendors, system integrators and telecom operators on all continents and supported our partners throughout the changes, challenges and opportunities that the industry has been facing.

TowerXchange: What are the challenges and opportunities that you see for the telecom industry?

Key opportunities are the internet-of-things and the huge potential of the emerging markets around the world. The growth of data traffic in so-called mature markets continues to be very significant, requiring more infrastructure. And the ongoing cellular coverage of emerging markets will be an opportunity for years to come. Almost a billion people live in Sub-Saharan Africa, two times more than in Western Europe. Less than 10% of them used a cell phone 10 years ago and today it is approximately 70%, still far away from the average cell phone penetration levels in Western Europe. Investments in telecommunication infrastructure will continue to be very significant and energy backup and storage solutions are required everywhere.

TowerXchange: What about the challenges?

We see a number of big challenges for the industry.  To manage more traffic and data requires more infrastructure and more efficient solutions. To deploy telecom networks in emerging markets is a technical and major economic challenge, due to the absence of (stable) power grids, the remote locations, the harsh climatic conditions and often the absence of qualified personnel on the ground.

Energy management requirements of wireless networks in Africa are therefore completely different from Europe. Traditional VRLA AGM and pure lead batteries that are a suitable solution for stable grid networks in most of Western Europe are an inefficient and costly solution for off-grid BTS in Africa.

TowerXchange: Why are traditional VRLA AGM and pure lead batteries less suitable in Africa?

Traditional VRLA telecom batteries are designed for backup power in cool and stable grid environments.  For many years the main focus of the telecom industry was on regions with well-developed electrical grids. As such, battery products served as a back-up only. The energy throughput in these so-called float applications was very limited, with stress caused by elevated ambient temperatures as well. Air-conditioning to maintain the ideal battery temperature is a very significant operational cost, and to operate a 24/7 genset to power the BTS is not only a huge cost and a hassle, but also a missed opportunity.

Different challenges require different solutions;  a smart BTS power solution allows a very significant economic saving and reduction in carbon footprint.  Our target is to allow BTS operators in the future to run their operation with significantly less or no use of a genset, thanks to the generation of renewable energy and an efficient energy management solution. We are delighted to see a strong shift from capex based purchasing decisions, to power solution-designs based on reduction of opex and therefore a significant reduction of the total cost of ownership or TCO.

In such a so-called green deployment the battery requirement profile is very different to that for traditional telecom applications. The system requires  a long life in cyclic application at elevated temperatures, therefore high energy throughput during its life, high energy efficiency, robustness in general and especially in partial-state-of charge operation, fast rechargeability, reliability, ease of installation and service are key parameters for low total cost of ownership.

TowerXchange: What differentiates Exide Technologies from its competitors?

Exide Technologies successfully supplies energy storage solutions on all continents. There are just a few competitors playing in this league and they have quite different profiles, so let me just underline a few things that customers expect and that make us stand out.

We have a very significant industrial supply chain and commercial footprint in the regions where we sell, which allows us to be close to our customers, to be very responsive and to ship products quickly, as required. This is a clear advantage vis-à-vis competitors that manufacture for instance in China, the USA or Mexico.

We see new competitors entering the market, especially in the energy management segment.

Our company has been around for almost 130 years and our teams have application and R&D know how that you just cannot get “off the shelf”. Particularly when it comes to Gel VRLA technology we have always been a leader with the GNB Sonnenschein product ranges that are particularly suitable for harsh cyclic applications.

Performance, quality and reliability of our offer, both products and services, is our most important asset: we deliver what we claim. We often see remarkable product performance claims in our competitor benchmarks, in particular in terms of in-the field service life, cycling performance and temperature resistance. These characteristics are vital for the TCO of an operation, but customers unfortunately cannot always do their own tests.

And finally I would also mention our comprehensive product portfolio and our strong product brands like GNB Sonnenschein, Absolyte, GNB Sprinter, GNB Marathon and GNB PowerCycle. This makes us more attractive for our distribution partners in all channels to the market.

TowerXchange: why do you think Exide Technologies is a valuable partner for tower operators in Africa?

For almost 130 years our company has been a specialist in energy storage solutions and a leading supplier of motive and stationary batteries. Cycling applications in harsh conditions are our core competence and this allowed us to be a global market leader in motive power and so-called high cycling and high temperature stationary applications.

Our batteries are often preferred for installations in the most challenging and remote environments, with extreme temperatures, with very poor or without power grid and a lack of qualified technicians.

That is what made our GNB Sonnenschein gel batteries and GNB Classic OPzS cells so famous.

Our strength is also to be close to the customer, with application engineering, project teams and R&D in Europe for the EMEA market and dedicated sales staff to support our customers and partners on- the-ground across Africa.

Our focus on high cycling high temperature applications in emerging markets is paying off.

Thousands of towers in Africa are already powered with GNB Sonnenschein PowerCycle HTB/HCB blocs and with dedicated sales resources we are confident to see further acceleration of our growth in Africa.

TowerXchange: Can you tell us a bit more about the Sonnenschein PowerCycle?

The GNB PowerCycle is a maintenance-free (no topping-up of water is required) VRLA front terminal battery that was designed specifically for telecom BTS applications in the most harsh environments. It is not a backup battery, but an energy storage solution with high cycle ability, fast rechargeability, robustness at elevated temperatures and in PSoC operation.

TowerXchange: What is the next step for Exide Technologies?

For several years Exide Technologies has offered Lithium Ion batteries for material handling applications and this technology provides features that can be beneficial for the high cycling high temperature telecom tower market. That is why we are looking forward to discussing this with telecom stakeholders at the upcoming TowerXchange conference in Johannesburg.

The combination of our experience in telecom infrastructure and applying the right product solution with GNB lead-acid batteries and Lithium ion technology can be a great recipe for the lowest TCO in class.