Solar-diesel hybrid energy model for Base Transceiver Station (BTS) of mobile phone operators

Abstract

The telecommunications industry has the greatest coverage among all utilities. Remote areas of the country that have no roads, grid-electricity, land line telephones or gas, still receive network coverage from one or more telecom companies. However, the Base Transceiver Systems (BTS) that these companies used in off-grid areas are dependent on on-site diesel generators, and the frequent maintenance and refueling that this entails. This paper analyses the costs of the solar-diesel hybrid systems, and the cost of electricity generated by such a system. It has been found that the cost of such a system comes to US$ 0.625 per kWh of electricity, using the hybrid configuration currently under consideration by mobile telecom operators. This configuration assumes that the generator will run for 2.5 to 3 hours, and provide energy for 8 to 10 hours. However, increasing the size of the panels will reduce the cost of electricity, keeping other factors constant. Traditional capital budgeting analysis and HOMER analysis are done to find out the energy cost and also for sensitivity analysis.