Press Releases

Budapest, May 14, 2012 14:00

Magyar Telekom recently held a trade day to introduce its Optimal Energy Management System now in operation, which facilitates more conscious and optimized energy consumption for companies and institutions. The unique feature of the system is that it is independent from metering systems and can be flexibly adapted to any existing building control, security and access systems. A saving of around 10-15% can be made with the implementation of the energy management system, and this can be further increased with modernisation of the energy system of the sites.

Rising energy prices, shrinking profitability and stricter environmental protection rules compel businesses to sharply reduce their energy consumption. The Optimal Energy Management system is a complex energy management system developed by Telekom and available for other companies and institutions as well. The system makes it possible for them to optimize their energy consumption and keep it under continuous control so that they can plan their costs precisely. The universal energy control system helps improve energy efficiency by revealing the processes of how energy is used and identifying potential savings. The size of energy saving depends on the particular company’s individual parameters, but, in Telekom’s experience a 10-15% energy saving can be attained with the implementation of an energy management system; this can be further increased through modernisation of the energy system of the site(s). Before the system is installed a custom survey and consultation is carried out by Telekom’s experts. A major benefit of the system is its independence from metering systems; it can be connected to practically any network measuring tool available in the market. Furthermore it can also be connected to already existing intelligent building control, safety and access systems.

“As a key player of Hungary’s economy Telekom must be a role model and share its best practices in enhancing energy efficiency, which requires precise consumer information and the possibility of immediate intervention. We have introduced our latest service, the Optimal Energy Management System, which is based on these legitimate consumer demands and constitutes yet another new step towards strengthening the role of Telekom in new markets not closely related to telecommunications,” said Gábor Pukler, Magyar Telekom’s business development and innovation director at the trade day.

Telekom tested its development among others on its own sites, in institutions of Szolnok in the framework of the T-City program and in buildings of its subsidiary, Dataplex. The aim of the pilot projects was to become familiar with the system both as a system operator and user, and to make the system suitable for meeting individual user needs. During the pilot operation Telekom was also in a position to assess what kind of general conclusions and experiences can be obtained regarding energy consumption from the information collected by the system.

As a company committed to sustainable development, for over a decade now Telekom has been seeking solutions enabling it to improve its own energy efficiency.

• Telekom (then still T-Mobile) was the first among European telecommunication carriers to solve the energy saving and modern conversion of the lighting of mobile towers. In the course of the development it replaced the gas-filled light sources with LED technology, in the process eliminating several devices (twilight switch, inverter) thus enhancing reliability. By replacing over 500 light sources it managed to achieve a saving of HUF 10 million in energy cost and the same amount of repair costs in a year (the project was implemented in 2005 and 2006).
• With the solar roof and shield installed on the containers of base stations external heat stress was reduced by 1kW per station, thereby reducing the internal cooling requirement. This also resulted in an enhanced operational safety. (Project implemented from 2001 to 2005)
• Using natural ventilation as an alternative to air conditioning the company is using 80% less energy for cooling a year. This technology developed by Telekom successfully participated in the competition in 2007 for the Hungarian Innovation Prize. It has been used in more than 1000 sites with 3-5 kW consumption. The project launched in 2005 is still underway at wire line sites. And the technology has also been upgraded in the meantime with a solution designed for sites consuming less than 1 kW.

Telekom would like to offer a solution to residential consumers also in the framework of smart metering, a new, emerging branch of industry in which new, supplementary business and consumer services will be generated and rolled out using information provided by energy and ICT systems. As a leading telecommunication provider, Telekom is responsible for several million customers and is, at the same time, a major consumer itself with several thousand consumer terminals. As a committed supporter of sustainable development it has drawn on years of experience in the energy market both as a consumer and as an ICT provider, to develop a smart metering system which will be able to ensure the highest possible benefits through these new services to all market players (consumers, distributors, vendors, producers).