Abbott Technologies cuts off-grid telecom OPEX by over 50%
A South African tower operator replaces ageing diesel gensets with Bladon MTGs and halves the energy operating cost of a portfolio of off-grid sites.
The challenge
Off-grid telecom sites across South Africa carried a heavy diesel OPEX burden. Sites consumed diesel at a steady rate around the clock and required service-engineer visits every few hundred operating hours. Fuel theft and pilferage on remote sites added unpredictable cost on top of the baseline.
Abbott Technologies needed a power solution that lowered the unit economics of every off-grid site without compromising uptime.
The solution
Abbott deployed Bladon MTG12 microturbine gensets at off-grid sites in place of the incumbent diesel units. The MTG runs the same liquid fuels already in the supply chain but with a single moving part, an annual service interval, and the option of a cheaper fuel grade.
The deployment used the existing site footprint and supply chain - no major civil works and no new fuel logistics arrangements.
The outcome
Across the deployed portfolio, total energy operating costs fell by more than half. The single largest contributor was the drop in service-visit frequency - annual service replaces monthly attendance - followed by a lower fuel bill from cheaper fuel grades and a sharp reduction in fuel-theft losses.
Sites also became substantially cleaner - particulate emissions dropped by 97% versus the replaced diesel units, helping Abbott's customers progress against their own scope-1 reduction targets.
"Switching from diesel to the Bladon MTG took our off-grid energy operating costs in half. The bigger story is that we now visit each site once a year instead of every few weeks."
- Operations team, Abbott Technologies