A comparative study of lithium ion (LFP) to lead acid (VRLA) battery for use in telecom power system

Telecom towers in India consume about 16.5 billion units of electrical energy from the grid, 3.2 billion liters of diesel and emitting around 8.6 million metric tons of CO
₂
per year. The foremost reason for this huge energy consumption and CO
₂
emission is that the telecom tower sites are running with inefficient technologies like tubular and valve regulated lead acid (VRLA) batteries, air conditioners, AC-DC, DC-DC converter and diesel generator. The above problems can be mitigated by the usage advanced energy efficient technologies. This paper discusses in detail about lithium ion batteries and how lithium iron phosphate (LFP) battery offers substantial advantages on comparison with present valve regulated lead acid battery on the following constraints: performance characteristics, operational features, environment impact and commercial viability. A case study comparing the EB consumption, diesel consumption and carbon dioxide emission of 2 telecom sites one with VRLA battery and another site with lithium iron phosphate battery is also presented in this paper.