INTELLIGENT BRANDS // Green Technology
Huawei expert on digitalising
site energy for green
connectivity and computing
Peng Jianhua, President,
Huawei Telecom Energy,
explains how the company
is working closely with the
telecommunications industry
to explore and drive the
development of 5G based on
the concept of simple, smart
and green.
5G Power helps customers to rapidly
deploy 5G and reconstruct sites
so that they’re fully intelligent for
optimal TCO.
By 2025, the number of people-to-people,
people-to-things and things-to-things
connections will exceed 100 billion. With
the growing adoption of 5G networks,
experience and business-driven connectivity
and computing are becoming ubiquitous.
The rise of new services, such as online
healthcare, online education, online office,
smart home, VR, AR and autonomous
driving, is demanding broader network
connections, higher bandwidth and content
and computing that are closer to users.
So, how will these developments change site
energy infrastructure?
Seeing the future to create a
better now
Optimising CAPEX and OPEX: The number
of base stations, the amount of equipment
room hardware and power consumption
are rising. Site construction involves building
traditional equipment rooms, rigging
together multiple boxes in the power system
and overlaying multiple systems. Multiple
stages are needed, including engineering
surveys, negotiations, approval and civil
construction. Construction cycles are long,
investment requirements are high and
fast service provisioning is impossible. Site
management is complex and evolution
difficult. For example, in ME GCC countries
we find that so many sites have little free
space to install additional power cabinet
or battery cabinet to support new 5G, also
causing high maintenance difficulty.
CT and IT convergence: Advances in 5G
technology and the increase in service
applications have resulted in computing
getting closer to users and the convergence
of CT and IT into ICT architecture.
Redefining energy storage systems: Leadacid
batteries are fast being swapped out
for lithium-ion. While ordinary lithium-ion
batteries have advantages, they’re a simple
combination of battery cell and structural
component, which can only provide simple
backup power. In the 5G era, the architecture
of base station energy storage systems
needs to be redefined.
Hybrid modernisation: Various factors are
encouraging operators to reduce DC running
time and fuel consumption, including climate
change and the need to get profit from
OPEX. This hybrid modernisation is boosting
power supply system efficiency and reducing
the need for diesel generators, helping ME
operators to optimise the power network and
reduce OPEX.
Digitalisation and smartification to
minimise O&M costs: 4G O&M for roughly
80% of base stations involves manual
on-site inspections to locate issues and
troubleshoot faults. The need to greatly
improve site O&M efficiency will drive the full
digitalisation and smartification of energy
infrastructure. In the 5G era, the surge in the
number of connections and sites will lead to
ever-more-complex O&M.
Infrastructure: Site energy infrastructure
will become more open and sites will evolve
from communication stations into social
stations that provide functions like site
sharing, energy infrastructure sharing and
advertising space rental. Sites will be able to
accommodate capabilities like environment
and security monitoring equipment and
peripheral power supply. Site and energy
sharing in this way will maximise site
resource utilisation.
5G Power and CO-MIMO
Huawei’s 5G Power is a next-gen site energy
solution designed to achieve a simple,
smart and green telecom energy network.
It utilises Huawei’s extensive experience in
5G network evolution, materials science and
key technologies in power, power electronics,
thermodynamics, IoT and AI.
CO-MIMO is a full-scenario equipment room
solution for helping carriers quickly deploy
5G and optimise E2E TCO.
By adopting digital technologies such as AI,
Big Data and IoT, the solution enables realtime
connectivity and the global management
of grid power, energy storage, temperature
control and loads supporting a fully intelligent
energy network with smart power output and
smart O&M for site energy systems. •
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