Parametric adaptive model for optimum electrical system configuration in telecommunication base stations consisting of diesel generators, li-ion battery banks and solar photovoltaic

Abstract

With the rapid development of next generation telecommunication devices and applications, demand for reliable, wider coverage and speed telecommunication networks has been a fundamental infrastructure prerequisite around the globe. For a highly reliable and wider coverage, the electrical system of the telecommunication base station should have the capacity to effectively maintain an uninterrupted power supply for smooth operations of radio and cooling equipment of the telecommunication base station. Development and operations of electrical systems for a network operator typically cost in the range of 20% to 30% of the total cost of ownership of a telecommunication network. Therefore, a significant impact on the bottom-line targets of the network operator can be achieved by evaluating the impact of optimization of power infrastructure deployed in telecommunication base stations. In this research, a parametric approach has been discussed to quantify multi dimensional characteristics affected when determining the optimum electrical system configuration for telecommunication base stations. Results of the proposed model have highlighted that when functional constraints become strict, the optimization model changes its proposed configuration with higher Levelized Cost of Energy (LCOE) with a change ranging from 5.7% to 15.3% which indicated the adaptive behaviour of the model. Further from the results, it is evident that the increase in expected network availability leads to an exponential increase in LCOE in the proposed electrical system which indicates the importance of correct benchmarking of the expected network availability of considered base station. When it comes to the behaviour of LCOE within the optimization model, even when 100% network availability is considered and when grid availability is dropped to 89.5%, LCOE of proposed optimum electrical system configuration maintained under 0.1 $/kWh, compared to the industry average of between 0.15 $/kWh to 0.3 $/kWh for a typical hybrid electrical system consisting of diesel generator, li-ion battery bank and solar Photovoltaic.