Much more than its foray into the Indian market, Intelligent Energy Holding’s acquisition of GTL’s Operations, Maintenance & Energy Management (OME) business will help it launch hydrogen fuel-powered telecom towers in India.
Last week, debt-laden Indian infrastructure services GTL has initiated a process to sell its OME business to Intelligent Energy’s Indian subsidiary E2 Energy Services for ₹850 crore. Following the acquisition, Essential Energy will assume the power management for more than 27,400 mobile telecom towers spread across 22 circles in the country.
“This transaction delivers contracted revenues of about £1.2 billion over 10 years, which is a major development for Intelligent Energy and the industry,” said Henri Winand, Chief Executive Officer at Intelligent Energy Holdings.
GTL has a tenancy (operators per tower) of 1.5 across these 27,400 towers. Intelligent Energy, a company listed on the London Stock Exchange, has already commenced field trials of hydrogen fuel cells in India and began installing them on GTL’s towers.
Over 70 per cent of India’s about 4.25 lakh towers face power outages of about 8 hours per day, impacting the nearly one-billion mobile phone users in the country. Diesel generators are currently the main back-up power source, but as a fuel, diesel is costly, inefficient, and emits high levels of carbon di-oxide, mono-nitrogen oxides and harmful carcinogenic particulate emissions.
Hydrogen fuel cells are expected to be more efficient and cleaner and can be more economical on a total cost of ownership basis than diesel generators, Intelligent Energy said in an LSE filing.
“Using our technology, India can leapfrog into an information-driven future without assuming the costs and experiencing the difficulties of first implementing a conventional energy grid. This deal sets a significant precedent for shaping India’s energy future,” Winand added.
