In the past, the perception of risk and lack of user experience were obstacles to adopting mobile energy management technology. But as technology improves and more studies reveal the inefficiencies and health risks associated with generators, this may no longer be the case. There are about five million cell phone towers worldwide, 640,000 of which aren’t connected to an electrical grid and largely run on diesel power. Mobile energy management reduces operating costs while providing seamless backup power.With more than one billion people – and potential cell phone subscribers – living in remote areas with no accessible power grid, operators are often forced to continuously power cellular base stations using diesel fuel. This costs an average of $20,000 to $30,000 per site and adds more than 50 tons of carbon dioxide into the atmosphere per year. Over 50 million additional wireless subscribers are expected in Africa alone over the next two years. Experts in Asia and South America are estimating the wireless market to grow about 7–10% every year for the next five years. Most of these cell towers will need generator sets, either for emergency backup in urban areas or as the prime source of power in remote locations. The fuel costs of running diesel power is a major piece of the total cost of ownership (TCO) for these cell towers. For example, the fuel cost (as a percentage of TCO) could be as high as 64% for a typical 12 kW diesel generator running for about eight hours per day.
In developing countries and prime power markets, two generators are typically used: one running continuously and alternating with the other generator set weekly, or whatever interval the automatic transfer switch (ATS) is set to use. In general, standby generators are not a very compelling form of self-insurance. If the grid stays up, they only provide peace of mind and do so at a considerable cost. In the event of a prolonged power blackout, backup generators frequently run out of fuel or suffer performance problems when they operate continuously for more than a few days. Additionally, backup generators are filthy, wasteful and prone to performance problems depending on the frequency and duration of electric grid outages. Stealth Power is intelligent energy management designed to be scalable and integrate with single or multi-generator diesel and gas power off grid applications.
The Stealth Power technology is a complete remote and off-grid application that dynamically optimizes generator efficiency while managing user-prioritized loads; maintains 100% of power reliability; dramatically reduce fuel consumption, emissions, maintenance, noise and vibrations while increasing generator lifecycles by up to five times.