DNA Tower Finland, a Telenor Towers company, has effectively used Elisa Industriq’s AI-based Distributed Energy Storage (DES) technology to link base station batteries to the Finnish power reserve market. DNA Tower Finland is the first tower firm in the world whose base station batteries work with Elisa DES to balance the country’s electrical grid.
Last year, DNA Tower Finland revealed that it was beginning to optimize the batteries in its equipment rooms using Elisa DES, marking a major step towards a more economical and environmentally friendly energy future. The solution is now linked to the base station batteries of DNA Tower Finland, and the battery capacity is being made accessible to the Fingrid-maintained Finnish power reserve markets.
DNA Tower Finland benefits greatly from grid-balancing services in the reserve markets because to the AI-powered solution. By using reasonably priced green energy, Elisa DES also maximizes base station electricity use, resulting in significant cost savings and environmental advantages. Lithium batteries, which use DES solution, have been purchased by DNA Tower Finland for its base stations. This ensures that the base stations will continue to function for much longer periods of time during power failures.
“We will be connecting hundreds of base station equipment rooms to the electricity balancing markets. The aim is to expand the service to cover most of our tower sites. This is a significant step towards improving our energy efficiency. At the same time, we achieve both economic and sustainability benefits, as we participate in electricity reserve markets to generate a new revenue stream,” says Antti Koskinen, CEO of DNA Tower Finland.
The DES technology was first used by Elisa in its own base stations three years ago. Elisa’s base stations’ power expenses are partially covered by the money and savings the solution creates. Other European telecom carriers and tower firms are being offered the solution by Elisa Industriq, and DNA Tower Finland is the first tower business to completely deploy the service.
“DNA Tower Finland has been a pioneering tower company in choosing to adopt Elisa DES solution and create new value with their site infrastructure. This marks a significant development in a way that telecom operators can monetize their battery storage. Together, we are also bolstering Finland’s national resilience and advancing the green energy transition,” states Jukka-Pekka Salmenkaita, VP for AI and Special Projects at Elisa Industriq.
Elisa Industriq energy solutions:
Elisa Industriq offers telecom operators, energy-intensive businesses, and households the opportunity to take an important and profitable role in the energy transition. The Distributed Energy Storage solution, Elisa DES, is based on artificial intelligence and machine learning. In mobile networks, the solution uses the flexibility of base station batteries to control the power supply of base stations by optimizing battery charging and discharging times. Part of this flexible capacity is offered to transmission system operators for grid balancing. The solution can utilize solar energy in addition to grid energy.
The solution is used in Elisa’s network in Finland and has also been implemented in Elisa’s network in Estonia. Commercial deliveries of DES began in 2024. In addition to the DNA Tower, the Åland operator Ålcom has also adopted the solution in its network using solar energy.
Elisa Industriq’s solution also optimizes energy storage in the commercial and industrial sectors. For example, Loviisan Lämpö, a district heating company from Finland, chose Elisa DES to optimize the world’s largest Sand Battery, delivered by Polar Night Energy.
Elisa is also bringing the energy solution to homes: the Elisa Kotiakku home energy storage service helps households balance electricity price spikes and store electricity generated by solar panels.
