Idea Power: Ballard Brings Fuel Cell Power Systems to Indian Wireless Network

Following up on a press release delivered on Nov. 1, 2011, Ballard Power Systems Inc. (TSX:BLD) (NASDAQ:BLDP) has announced the deployment of 30 two-kilowatt DBX2000 systems to India for rural telecom base station towers to be added to Idea Cellular’s network. The move helps Idea meet the January 2012 directive from the Telecom Regulatory Authority of India (TRAI) requiring 50% of all rural telecom base station towers and 33% of all urban towers in the country to be powered by hybrid solutions (containing a combination of renewable energy, such as hydrogen fuel cells, and grid electricity) within 5-years.

John Sheridan, President and CEO of Ballard, said, "There is a tremendous opportunity for clean energy solutions in the fast-growing India market. This initial deployment with Idea Cellular is an exciting step in validating the financial and environmental benefits of our fuel cell products to Idea Cellular and to prospects in India."

As part of the $35 billion multinational Aditya Birla Group, Idea Cellular is India's third-largest mobile services operator. With more than 100 million subscribers, Idea generates more than a billion minutes of communications traffic each day across its network of 70,000 cell sites.

Anil Tandon, Chief Technology Officer of Idea Cellular, said, "Fuel cell-based power is a focus for us because of its reliability, efficiency, green attributes and our commitment to environmentally friendly technologies. We have completed our evaluation of alternative solutions and are happy to work with Dantherm Power's product."

The fuel cell systems will be deployed to cell tower locations near an Aditya Birla Group chemical plant in the region of Nadga, Madhya Pradesh. Among the by-products produced at the chemical plant is hydrogen, which will be used for the Ballard fuel cell stacks as fuel. This displaces the diesel generators currently required to operate due to frequent grid power outages on a near-daily basis.

Dantherm Power operates jointly with Delta Power Solutions under a 2011 collaboration agreement. Delta is to integrate and install Dantherm Power's DBX2000 systems as a hybrid power solution on Idea Cellular sites, as well as provide operational support for the following 10 years for Idea Cellular.

Upon the announcement of the deployment, the initial reaction for BLD’s share price has been positive, gaining $0.04 since the market has opened for a 2.74% gain.

Geoff Woade
VantageWire – Tech

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