Our availability product makes the telecommunications network fail-safe

The majority of telecommunications equipment requires direct current electricity. To provide this with high reliability and in top quality, Power & Air Solutions uses rectifier systems in standby parallel operation with batteries. Thanks to these systems, Deutsche Telekom’s network is protected against power failures and disturbances in the upstream energy grid. In normal operations, the rectifiers transform alternating current into direct current. When needed, the batteries take on energy supply uninterrupted with -48 or -60VDC.

The portfolio of Power & Air Solutions has more than 9,000 of these UDCPSs (uninterruptible DC power supplies) in its control centers alone (CORE/aggregation/access). We operate 30,000 more rectifier systems at our mobile base stations and around 130,000 rectifier systems in our street cabinets, the gray boxes at the side of the road.

These systems are currently being retrofitted to minimize the transformation losses of these power electronic systems. Older rectifier devices are being replaced with highly efficient modules. This increases the efficiency of the UDCPSs from around 90% to nearly 98%. These reduced losses also result in less waste heat, which in turn lowers cooling requirements, boosting the conservation effect even further. With this approach, we ensure an efficient, sustainable energy supply for telecommunications and information technology.

A cable support system is a universal system for laying cables and lines. It is the global standard for industrial applications. Since 2021, the cable support system is being used to build new equipment rooms for Power & Air Solutions, instead of the previously implemented cable grid. By using this standard material, we can cut costs by up to 50%.
The cable support system completes the technical infrastructure of IT rooms, alongside a reliable energy supply and climate-control technology.

We guarantee failsafe operation of telecommunications equipment through optimal air conditioning of our equipment rooms. Our buildings and equipment rooms may differ in their sizes, but they all have the best possible composition of ventilation and air conditioning technology. Raised floors, energy-efficient cold aisles, and optimized climate models are used as needed. Optimized climate models in combination with free cooling minimize the need for mechanically generated cooling, ensuring cost-efficient operation of all systems.
The cooling systems are updated continually, which also improves environmental performance.

The generation of electricity with fuel cells is not a 21st-century invention. The first fuel cell was invented in the 19th century. Power & Air Solutions has been exploring fuel cell systems since its founding (2004) and has tested a variety of types. With their high efficiency and low emissions, there is no doubt that fuel cells are a future technology, although it has failed to enter widespread use – primarily for economic reasons.

The current environmental, economic, and socio-political framework reinforces arguments in favor of using this technology.

As the company responsible for energy procurement and availability for Deutsche Telekom in Germany, we have identified the following potential use cases:

Energy generation via high-temperature fuel cells
Autonomous energy supply of locations in hybrid constellations (photovoltaic/wind/batteries/fuel cells)
Low-temperature fuel cells as emergency generation systems
Alternative emergency generation systems with high-temperature fuel cells
In April 2022, Power & Air Solutions began operating an SOFC (solid oxide fuel cell) to generate electricity, including waste heat utilization.

Enabling an always-available supply of renewable energies is the goal of the energy transformation. To achieve this, we use a variety of battery storage technologies, such as large-capacity storage systems and availability stores.

The intelligent control of these battery storage systems for peak shaving, intensive grid use, control energy, and optimization of our own use, we help make the grid more stable and provide availability for fluctuating renewable energy sources around the clock.