21 June 2017

Master Power Technologies recently delivered a turnkey data centre to a telecoms company in Brazzaville. The facility comprises a set of modular, pre-engineered, pre-assembled, and pre-tested containers.

It is generally accepted that Africa is a ‘mobile-first’ economy.

The continent’s mobile network operators are therefore often seen as the sole communication service providers, not only for consumers but for government and business users as well. 

In terms of the latter, MNOs are keen to offer more enterprise class services.

As part of this, big name cellcos such as MTN and Vodacom are building their own data centres to add to the growing number of independent facilities that are beginning to sprout up across the continent.

But whether they are expanding their wireless networks or building data centres, all operators across developing regions typically face the same issue: a lack of reliable and cost effective power for running their sites. 

So what’s the solution?

South African power solutions provider Master Power Technologies (MPT) says that when faced with the potential losses involved in load shedding or general electricity outages because of poorly maintained infrastructure, many businesses have made the investment in their own power management solutions.

Central to these solutions is the backup diesel generator.

But as Rory Reid, MPT’s sales and marketing manager points out, gensets can be costly and buying one is not a simple decision. 

“The problem with purchasing a generator is that it is a grudge purchase and the temptation is to keep costs to a minimum.

“In order to support customers so that they can run successful, energy efficient operations, MPT has leveraged renewable energy by integrating technologies such as solar photovoltaic (PV) with generator, UPS and battery solutions in its modular data centres.” 

Reid reckons the integration of solar power systems in MPT’s turnkey energy centres has not only enabled customers to hedge against future increases in electricity tariffs, but also facilitates long-term growth strategies with stable and affordable emission-free energy.

Simon Albury, CEO of UK-based DC generator technology specialist Controllis, agrees that solar equipment is now very cost effective with panels costing less than USD0.50 per Watt peak.

But while adding solar to an existing hybrid solution can have a payback of less than two years, Albury warns of pitfalls to avoid when looking to deploy a cost-effective solution for the long term. 

“Although most of the operators we are dealing with have invested in renewables and found good savings, there are a number of issues that still persist. 

“Firstly, solar panels are very useful for non-telecoms applications and are often subject to theft. Secondly, the dry climate in large parts of Africa can cause a lot of dust to build up requiring frequent cleaning.”

Albury says both of these problems can be overcome by design and engagement with the local communities.

But he then goes on to describe a third issue. 

“Many early hybrid solar systems were designed with aggressive discharge of the battery bank and without consideration of the cooling needs of the battery.

“This has left some early adopter operators with batteries that have lasted only a couple of years, and the replacement costs have offset any fuel and maintenance savings. Other early hybrid systems did not properly condition the batteries with the result that the system’s capacity degraded over time.”

Energy plan

It is vital for operators planning a data centre to know their power density in advance.

Reid warns: “If you design the centre with too little density, you will need to do an upgrade and this is quite expensive. If everything is built, and then you discover that you need more power, this is really expensive. 

“If you go the other way and design a data centre for too much power density, you can’t run it efficiently. To measure the efficiency of a data centre, you can use KPIs like PUE (power usage effectiveness); this is the relation between the total power consumed and the power you need for the IT itself.”

While PUE is a good indicator to monitor any improvements made over the years, Reid points out that it shouldn’t be used to compare data centres with different designs.

He continues by saying that PUE will also depend on the business model and on different cooling designs. For example, a data centre using outside fresh air for cooling in a colder climate will save more power than one that operates in the tropics of Africa or Asia, for example. 

A data centre’s power requirements will always be much higher than a cell site’s and, as Albury says, this puts data centres within the efficient operating range of a wide number of diesel powered AC solutions.

As a result he believes that, apart from integrating some solar power solutions, it makes “little economic sense” to have a hybrid power solution for a data centre.

In contrast, cell site power requirements are much smaller, and Albury says many of them can be operated in a battery charging hybrid mode which saves significant fuel and maintenance costs.

“When coupled with solar or other renewable systems, savings can be up to 90 per cent compared to conventional always on diesel generator solutions.”

To overcome some of the issues identified above, Controllis has designed its DC generator products to be battery chargers from the outset.

“We have worked closely with battery manufacturers, designing a system that automatically takes care of the requirements of the battery whatever the conditions,” says Albury.

“We take great care in our hybrid system design to select the right sized battery and to operate a charging regime that ensures battery life is as long as possible.”

Albury claims Controllis’ solar hybrid systems have a battery life in excess of ten years.

He says the company’s “unique, very high efficiency” DC architecture has been developed from the ground up to be efficient in both hybrid and always on modes for powering telecom sites.

“The combination of our DCPrimePower alternators and our remote system controllers provides a solution that delivers the right charge into the system at the right time, [thereby] maximising the input from renewable systems.”

Controllis has been operating in the region for more than four years now, and Albury says its hybrid systems in the field have typically shown a more than 60 per cent improvement in efficiency compared to what was previously in operation. 

“Where sites are facing a higher load, running in hybrid mode often does not make sense in the longer term.

“For such sites, and if solar is not viable, we usually recommend dual DC generator configuration. These sites typically save around 25 to 35 per cent compared to AC generators. We have solar hybrid installations in South America and Asia where savings have been over 90 per cent compared to running an AC generator.” 

Turkish manufacturer Teksan Generator also provides hybrid power systems which it describe as “eco-friendly and fuel-efficient solutions” especially developed for the telecoms industry.

Ihsan Ozkan, the company’s hybrid product manager, says the solutions comprise a balanced combination of the “best quality” components with “cutting-edge” features and technologies.

He adds that the ultimate goal is to deliver higher energy efficiency and lower opex through the design of customised systems that utilise renewable energy sources at optimal level.

“We recently installed a hybrid genset in substitution for a diesel genset powering an off-grid cell site in Hartum [Khartoum], Sudan,” says Ozkan. “By switching the power source from diesel to hybrid, the operator realised a 50 per cent saving in fuel consumption and a 75 per cent reduction in maintenance costs.

Teksan recently installed one of its hybrid gensets to power an off-grid cell site in Sudan and says the operator saved 50 per cent in fuel consumption. 

“The most important point in this project was to provide savings through high efficiency delivered by our tailor-made product. This might conceivably generate higher saving rates when the hybrid system is integrated with renewable energy sources.

“Furthermore, when the engine of the hybrid genset operates, both sound, carbon and particle emissions are reduced by more than 75 per cent.”

According to Reid, MPT has successfully introduced modular and mobile plug-and-play data and energy centres that are scalable and can be customised, and have enabled industries such as telecoms to leapfrog traditional infrastructure and expand their services to remote areas. 

He explains that the company’s in-house technicians have designed steel modules measuring 4.5m x 3.6m x 12m in which an entire data centre can be hosted, along with all the necessary accessories, such as air conditioning, backup power, fire alarm, security, etc. 

MPT has recently delivered a turnkey modular data centre solution to a telecommunications company in Brazzaville, Republic of Congo.

“The plug-and-play solution comprised a set of modular, pre-engineered, pre-assembled, and pre-tested containers.” says Reid. “These house the latest ICT infrastructure as well as energy components which ensure that the data centre is self-sufficient.”

MPT’s turnkey solutions include UPS, gensets, battery and energy management systems.

They also include an automated, round the clock, remote monitoring platform housed at the company’s NewLife Centre in Randburg, Gauteng.

Reid adds that this real-time monitoring facility has been upgraded for all secure power critical equipment, and features the Universal Controller (UC) which MPT designed to replace traditional SCADA and PLCs in the monitoring and control environment. 

MPT’s NewLife Centre in South Africa offices monitors all secure power critical equipment for its customers in real-time.

Data from the intelligent Universal Controller can be accessed and displayed on touchscreens mounted in strategic locations at the centre.

For local access to the information, multiple on-site touchscreens can be mounted in strategic locations to provide relevant data to the right people. 

“The UC can be used for a wide variety of functions including battery management, building management, generator control, UPS control, PDU monitoring, etc.,” says Reid.

“When the controller detects an issue – which can be anything from a mains failure to a battery failure in a UPS installation – it raises an alarm, and the operators at the NewLife Centre follow standard operating procedures (agreed with the client beforehand) to deal with the problem.”

Since the UC monitors the situation in real-time, a constant log is kept of the performance of all electronic equipment under observation.

Reid says this provides the customer with a “clear understanding” of their system’s performance. The controller also allows for mobile monitoring via a tablet or Android app. 

 The future of power

When it comes to product evolution, what areas are the specialist power manufacturers focusing on in order to improve their offerings?

France-based SDMO Industries is part of the US-based Kohler group. It describes itself as the world's third largest manufacturer of gensets and power generation plants, and distributes its products throughout the world, including Africa, under the KOHLER and KOHLER/SDMO brands.

The company recently introduced its KD Series of gensets powered by an entirely new line of Kohler G-Drive engines in nodes between 800kVA and 4200kVA.

SDMO boasts that the new generators will help telecoms and data centre users, amongst others, to find cost savings through the product line’s “superior fuel efficiency, extended service intervals, and space-saving footprint”.

It says the KD Series is designed to meet global emissions regulations, and feature gensets that are “highly customisable”.

Multiple alternator options are available along with a variety of other options and accessories to ensure what the vendor claims is “optimal” performance for the most demanding applications. 

Among the features is the APM802 digital controller.

This is said to offer comprehensive system monitoring and diagnostics via a 12-inch touchscreen. KOHLER-SDMO adds that fast and secure remote access to key system details is also available through mobile devices. 

The generators also include a high-ambient cooling system. This has been developed for extreme operating conditions and utilises segmented radiator core sections. According to the company, it can help save “considerable” time and money by allowing for single-section replacement rather than the entire core.

SDMO’s J22 and J33 power generation sets have been developed specifically for telecoms and remote applications.

KOHLER-SDMO has also developed two new units specifically for telecoms and remote applications

The J22 Long Running and J33 Long Running are each equipped with a John Deere engine to deliver 22KVA and 33KVA respectively in standby applications, and 20 and 30KVA in continue applications.

In addition, the products have a 1,000 hour maintenance interval, 600/1000/2000 litre fuel tanks plus optimised fuel and oil filtration, and fuel autonomy ranging from120, 200 and 400 hours.

Meanwhile, Controllis is about to launch its IonLiFe lithium ion phosphate batteries into the telecoms market.

The company says it chose this chemical composition as it offers a combination of “very high cycle life and very safe operating parameters” in a relatively compact form factor. 

“There are some horror stories from early adopters of other lithium ion chemistries where large numbers of BTS caught fire,” says Albury. “Lithium ion phosphate is a very safe chemistry that won’t suffer from these type of issues.

“We have developed the battery management system in-house and the complete products will be assembled and tested in the UK. The battery integrates seamlessly into our remote management and monitoring architecture.”  

For MPT, the focus remains on its Universal Controller.

Reid says the through many years of tried and tested applications running critical solutions in the field, the company has developed specialised software modules for the UC that can be loaded for specific applications.

Some of these applications include: generator control; fuel management; triple changeover between power supply sources; battery monitoring down to individual blocks; amongst others.

“Load testing your emergency standby generator system as well as your UPS system should be part of a standard planned maintenance programme for all systems to ensure minimal downtime for customers,” advises Reid.

He adds that to ensure customers receive the major benefits from their installed power solutions, Master Power Technologies has invested in a training centre to upskill their technical staff and those of their customers. 

“The training courses will emulate the customer’s site and provide simulated fault situations with step-by-step visual instructions on how to switch sections of the system. These switching operations in the training centre can be repeatedly carried out without any risk of incorrect switching at a live site.”

For Teksan, Ozkan says the company’s continued aim is to reduce opex and initial capex for end users, as well as to provide eco-friendly and practical solutions.

He perhaps sums up the end user’s ultimate requirements when he says: “Our R&D team has been conducting comprehensive feasibility and optimisation studies to innovate with distinguished products that have a lower carbon footprint and reasonable initial investment costs.”