The Acta Power is a self-recharging back-up power system incorporating a fuel cell and low cost on-board hydrogen generation. It has been developed to meet the back-up power requirements of telecom base stations in off-grid or bad grid locations by utilising rainwater for water supply and avoiding the cost and logistical barriers of hydrogen delivery to base stations in remote or inaccessible sites.
Acta’s first Acta Power trial in the Philippines was announced in July 2013 following the announcement of trials in Africa and Australia, all with major mobile telecoms operators, and a separate renewable energy storage trial in the UK. In addition, earlier this month the Company signed a distribution partnership with Shanghai Sunwise Energy Systems Co. Ltd for the distribution of electrolyers and back-up power systems in China.
The new Philippine trial will be undertaken in partnership with Lead Core Technology Systems Inc. (“LCTSI”), a technical support company specialising in battery systems and engineering support services for telecommunications and other industries. LCTSI will be Acta’s engineering and client services partner and will be responsible for the installation and technical management of the trial as well as the commercial promotion of the installed system within the final client’s organisation.
The trial unit is due to be shipped in October and will undergo initial testing on site for one month prior to a two-month live trial at a grid-connected telecom base station. Subject to the successful outcome of the trial, the partners believe that there is the potential for a significant level of orders in this marketplace for Acta Power systems.
Paolo Bert, Chief Executive of Acta, commented: “We have seen a strong level of interest in the capabilities of the Acta Power among the major mobile phone operators in the Philippines, and we are delighted to be entering our second trial agreement there. We believe there is an outstanding business opportunity in the region for our unique back-up power system.”