Case Elisa: Optimizing Telecom Batteries

Customer story

Headquarters

Helsinki, Finland

Industry: Telecom

Website

Elisa website

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Overview
Challenge
Solution
Title

Overview: turning telecom backup batteries into a Virtual Power Plant

Elisa, a leading Finnish telecom operator, partnered with Gridle (formerly Elisa DES) to transform its nationwide network of mobile base stations into a distributed virtual power plant (VPP). This innovative initiative leverages AI to optimize energy use, reduce costs, and support Finland’s green energy transition.

Jukka-Pekka Salmenkaita

VP, AI & Special Projects, Elisa

Elisa fully unlocks the value of RAN batteries and backup power. Elisa participates in grid balancing service and generates significant revenue, positioning itself as a pioneer in the energy transition within the telecommunications industry.

Challenge: Making Storage Profitable

Elisa operates thousands of base stations across Finland and Estonia, each equipped with backup batteries that were traditionally idle unless there was a power outage. These batteries represented a significant untapped asset. Elisa faced the challenge of:

Reducing the rising energy costs of its mobile network operations.
Enhancing energy resilience and uptime during grid disturbances.
Contributing to national sustainability goals by integrating more intelligently with the energy market.

Solution & Impact

Gridle introduced an AI-powered energy optimization platform that turned Elisa’s passive battery infrastructure into an active, revenue-generating virtual power plant. Key features included:

Real-time optimization of battery charging and discharging based on market signals.
Participation in electricity reserve markets (e.g., FCR-D, aFRR).
Aggregation of over 2,000 base station sites into a unified VPP with over 150 MWh of distributed energy storage capacity

Impact:

Cost Efficiency: Gridle now offsets up to 50% of the electricity costs of Elisa’s base stations
Grid Resilience: Improved network uptime by 2–4x during outages
Sustainability: Expected annual CO₂ reduction of up to 20,000 tonnes
Market Leadership: Elisa became one of Europe’s largest decentralized VPP operators, and the solution has since been adopted by other telecom infrastructure providers

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Case Elisa: Optimizing Telecom Batteries

Overview: turning telecom backup batteries into a Virtual Power Plant

Challenge: Making Storage Profitable

Solution & Impact

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