Download TowerXchange ESCO Roundtable 2020 prospectus
Day one | Tuesday 13 October
- From 8:30
Registration and coffee
- 9:00
Keynote: Why Orange chose to partner with ESCOs, experiences to date
- Why Orange partnered with ESCOs:- Improve efficiency and quality of service
- Accelerate our transition from diesel to green energy
- Recognising that fuel logistics are not an MNOs’ core competency
- ESCOs as a viable alternative to towercos- Initial successes: increasing site availability by 30-40%
- Orange experiences from live ESCOs in six countries (Burkina Faso, Cote d’Ivoire, DRC, Guinea Conakry, Niger and Sierra Leone), managing 3,000 cell sites
- Adding several hundred additional sites per year through ESCOs
Hervé Suquet, CTIO, Orange- 9:30
The current, and fast growing, market for telecom ESCOs
- Orange completing their ESCO transition with a further 3,000 sites with imminent ESCO launches in CAR, Mali, Liberia, Cameroon and eventually Egypt
Proofs of concept in Sudan and Congo for MTN, and the potential for 13,000 ESCO sites in the medium term
- Beyond Orange and MTN: ESCO RFPs and RFQs coming out of Vodacom, Safaricom, Etisalat Misr and Ethio Telecom
- Why some towercos do, and other towercos don’t, partner with ESCOs
- Lessons learned from the first telecom ESCOs in India, together with potential demand from Myanmar, Pakistan, Afghanistan and the Philippines
- Forecasts for the continuing growth of ESCOs
Kieron Osmotherly, CEO, TowerXchange- 9:50
Keynote case study: Africa’s fastest growing ESCO; Camusat’s Aktivco
- Aktivco’s footprint in Chad, Niger, Burkina Faso, Ivory Coast and Mali
- The deployment of a new ESCO, and the timeline to site modernisation
- The case for ESCOs to manage on grid as well as off grid / bad grid sites
- Adding new sites, and hopefully new customers, as we scale each
ESCO operation
- “ESCO Plus” – augmenting energy services with responsibility for
security plus maintenance of both passive and, potentially, active
infrastructure
- Our ambitions for growth, both within existing countries (adding new
sites, new customers) and entering new countries
Thibaut de Rodellec, Deputy CEO, Camusat- 10.10
Keynote case study: Beyond proof of concept
- The extent to which partnering with telecom ESCOs has been de-risked
by IPT PowerTech and other pioneers
- IPT PowerTech’s T-ESCO footprint in Guinea Conakry, Lebanon and
Nigeria
- Proof of concept: improvements in availability, reductions in cost,
reductions in carbon footprint
- Why scale is critical so your ESCO partners having the necessary
financial and technical capacity, and boots on the ground to execute
- Versioning the ESCO model to suit towercos: the guaranteed savings
model
- How we do it: people, process and technologies
Khaled Habbal, COO, IPT PowerTech- 10:30
Morning coffee
- 10:50
Case study: Five years of experience operating an ESCO in Gabon
- The context of the mobile market in Gabon, challenges we are facing,
and our roadmap for the future
- What has been achieved? Improving
uptime (99.99%!) and reducing CO2 emissions by two thirds
- The importance of forming a genuine partnership to ensure fast,
successful implementation and sustainable results
- Expanding in Gabon, and a landmark new contract in Nigeria
Ofer Ahiraz, CEO, Energy Vision- 11:10
Case study: Best practices in operational delivery
- Experiences from 2.5 years running ESCO sites in Afghanistan
- Transforming over 100 sites in the Central African Republic
- Plans for Guinea and Liberia
Kadri Hakim, Co-CEO, ieng Group- 11:30
Panel session: Best practices in operational delivery and site modernisation
- Where and when does the customer’s responsibility for legacy
equipment end?
- And when is it reasonable to expect site modernisation to begin?
- How to audit sites to create an up to date asset register, visibility of available space, equipment lifecycles, current and future load
- Selecting, standardising (where possible) and correctly deploying
hybrid and renewable power systems
- Monitoring and optimising performance
- Aligning with the opco in terms of responsibilities, people, process
and culture
Moderator: Dulip Tillekeratne, Senior Manager, CleanTech, M4D,
GSMA
Sachin Nijhawan, Vice President, Mahindra Powerol
Marwan Khoury, GM – Power Division, IPT PowerTech
Kadri Hakim, Co-CEO, ieng Group
Ofer Ahiraz, CEO, Energy Vision
Damien Kelly, Regional Business Manager, Delmec- 12.10
The next wave of prospective ESCO customers
- What Etisalat Misr is looking for from their 1,000 site RFP
- Why declining grid availability has prompted Vodacom to explore
partnering with an ESCO at 1,400 sites in South Africa
- Why Safaricom is considering partnering with ESCOs for around 20%
of their sites
- Ethio Telecom’s ESCO RFP: 1,200 sites South and East of Addis Ababa
- Where MTN is considering partnering with ESCOs and the progress of pilots
Johan Ayres, Managing Executive, Network Programme Management,
Vodacom
Dennis Chepkwony, Senior Manager, Power, Safaricom
Khalid Murshed, CTO, Etisalat Misr
Senior representative, MTN
Senior representative, Ethio Telecom
(Participants subject to confirmation)- 13:00
Networking lunch
- 14:00
Fireside chat: How towercos, ESCOs and MNOs can all work together
- Power business models 101: power-as-a-service vs power pass through
vs ESCO vs guaranteed savings
- How and why has IHS created ESCO-like partnerships in Nigeria?
- How Helios thinks partnerships with ESCOs could work, and why they
haven’t partnered to date
- How Tower Vision and the other towercos in India work with ESCOs
- How ESCOs and towercos can co-operate to create efficiencies and
optimise service provided to MNOs and ultimately subscribers
- Under what circumstances would a power-as-a-service towerco
partner with an ESCO?
Interviewer: Kieron Osmotherly, CEO, TowerXchange
Emmanuel Leonard, Director of Business Development, Helios
Towers PLC
Moshe Shushan, Director, Tower Vision
Gordon Porter, VP Operations, IHS Nigeria (tbc)- 14:40
Panel session: How to maximise the investibility of ESCO contracts
- Areas investors focus on when evaluating ESCO contracts:
- Price and tenor
- Cash flow versus capital deployed, and the impact of penalties
- Counterparties: recourse to a sizable service company, MNO parent
company guarantees
- Political risk, currency and payment mechanics
- Provisions governing change of control
- Flexibility to move equipment between sites in the event of
changing load or electrification
- What can be done to drive down the cost of capital, as a function of
contract, market, technology, counterpart and currency risk?
- What it will take for ESCOs to attract capital beyond DFIs and
specialist lenders; opening the door to commercial debt and corporate
finance
Moderator: Emine Topal, Project Manager, Green Giraffe
Pål Helgesen, Investment Director, Norfund
Ariana Batori, Investment Officer, IFC
Andreas Cremer, Director for Infrastructure in Eastern Europe,
Middle East and Asia, DEG
Antonin Calzarossa, Investment Officer for SSA, Asia, LatAm, EIB
Surabhi
David De Villiers, Vice President Renewables to Telecom Operators,
Engie- 15:25
A risk matrix for ESCO contract review
- What to look for when reviewing an ESCO contract and associated
subcontracts
- Is the transfer of risk commensurate with the fees?
- Are there variable components to the fee structure to mitigate risks
associated with FX or diesel prices?
- What is the allocation of risk associated with the capital deployment
into new equipment, and the risk of vandalism or theft of that
equipment?
- Are SLAs achievable, and are penalties fair?
- What are the termination clauses, how is the equipment procurement
amortised, and is the cure period realistic?
Kerim Uster, Attorney at Law with experience of reviewing ESCO contracts- 15:45
Afternoon coffee
- 16:00
Fireside chat: Navigating ESCOs through market restructuring and cell site electrification
- How AST has continued to scale their ESCO business to almost 10,000
towers, despite the restructuring of the Indian mobile market
- How Ardom streamlined processes to improve their bottom line whilst
under top line pressure
- Where the pressure to renegotiate ESCO contracts comes from
distressed counterparties, and how we found win-win solutions
- How we’ve adapted as our portfolio has evolved the majority being
off-grid to a majority on grid
- Why MNOs and towercos need the ESCO model now more than ever
- Adapting our solution to new site typologies,
- Expanding beyond telecom to serve C&I customers
Interviewer: Kieron Osmotherly, CEO, TowerXchange
Kapil Kathpalia, CEO, Applied Solar Technologies
Ajit Shankar, Managing Director and CEO, Ardom- 16:30
Case study: How Yoma Micro Power has built 250 power plants to
serve towerco anchor tenants and communities in Myanmar
- Deploying our own capital into solar hybrid power plants designed to
meet the load today, with modularity for scalability
- What 99.95% uptime SLAs mean in practice
- How we have reduced energy opex by 15-20% whilst drastically
improving carbon footprints
- Why the telecom, community power and C&I businesses must each
stand on their own legs
- Challenges to overcome to drive to 2,000 sites: site acquisition
- The future of mini-grids, ESCOs and telecom energy in Myanmar
Alakesh Chetia, CEO, Yoma Micro Power- 16:50
Case study: Beyond towers to power switching centres, Fibre PoPs
and C&I
- How DPA evolved from managing 1,800 Econet sites to serving Liquid
Telecom PoPs and C&I off-takers – from 5KW to 5MW – in five
countries
- Why the power requirements for towers, different comms infrastructure, and C&I off-takers are not as different as one might
think – leveraging the same resources
- How we adapt to achieve data centre 99.999% uptime SLAs
- How agreements are pre-negotiated to evolve as the load increases
- Extending to 20MW mining projects – DPA’s joint venture with EDF
Norman Moyo, Group CEO, Distributed Power Africa- 17:10
Expanding the remit of ESCOs: community power, C&I off takers, and
rural network expansion
- Can a renewable energy cell site become a community hub for power
and water?
- How does extending the ESCO business model from telecom towers to community power affect profitability?
- Is installation rooftop solar for C&I off takers a good fit with telecom
ESCOs?
- How does MNOs and towercos transferring a growing number of cell
sites to ESCOs translate into connecting more people to a faster
Internet?
- How do we catalyse investments in ESCO, site design and networkas-
a-service innovations, and how can they combine to unlock rural
connectivity?
- What are the implications of expanding the remit for your team and
for your investors?
Alakesh Chetia, CEO, Yoma Micro Power
Nat-Sy Missamou, Energy Director, Orange
Norman Moyo, Group CEO, Distributed Power Africa
Kapil Kathpalia, CEO, Applied Solar Technologies- 18:00
Close of day one, followed by drinks reception and networking dinner
Day two | Wednesday 14 October
- Bi-lateral meetings & opportunity to visit TowerXchange Meetup Africa
TowerXchange's new meeting facilitation app will enable you to arrange bi-lateral meetings such as:
- MNOs reconnecting with existing ESCO partners
- MNOs and towercos meeting prospective future ESCO partners
- ESCOs meeting current and prospective investors
- Green energy component suppliers meeting current and prospective ESCO customers
- Managed service providers meeting current and prospective ESCO partners
- MNOs jointly meeting towercos and ESCOs to co-ordinate activities