Optimal sizing of wind–PV‐based DC microgrid for telecom power supply in remote areas

Abstract

New telecommunication towers are installed in remote/rural areas to facilitate the increasing connectivity worldwide. With concerns over environmental issues, such towers are to be environmentally friendly. Conventionally, diesel generator supply power to towers in remote/rural areas, which leads to carbon emission. Also, the operation of diesel generator entails considerable operating cost (fuel and maintenance costs). Thus, a wind-photovoltaic (PV) based DC microgrid is proposed for supplying power to telecommunication towers in remote/rural areas ensuring reliable, economical, and green power supply. Therefore, techno-economic analysis is carried out here to determine the feasibility and cost of electricity (COE) per unit of the proposed DC microgrid. A non-dominated sorting genetic algorithm II is implemented to solve the multi-objective optimal sizing problem to achieve a trade-off between the cost and the reliability. Hourly solar irradiation and wind speed data is used for long-term analysis equivalent to the lifespan of the battery. Further, de-rating factor and maximum power point tracking factor are considered while modelling the renewable resources. The loss of power supply probability, excess energy, and COE are calculated and different scenarios are studied to examine the techno-economic feasibility of the proposed DC microgrid.