Smart hybrid power system for base transceiver stations with real-time energy management

Abstract

Reducing the power consumption of base transceiver stations (BTSs) in mobile communications networks is typically achieved through energy saving techniques, where they can also be combined with local power generators to create a hybrid power system (HPS). Such a system has reduced power consumption and operational cost, without taking the advantage of real-time energy management. In this paper, we introduce the smart HPS that can facilitate energy consumption scheduling (ECS) via an intelligent connection to the power grid. In doing so, we first develop sensor control and communication systems with an embedded smart ECS unit for the HPS. Then, we propose a real-time energy management algorithm to reduce the operational cost of BTS, according to real-time pricing and estimating demand and supply. The numerical results presented show a significant reduction in the BTS operational costs. We also develop a techno-economic and sizing analysis to describe the total cost of the smart HPS taking the real-time energy pricing into account. Since the lifetime of the operating system can be quite long, our results show that there is possibility to make a profit.