Abstract
The telecommunication sector plays a significant role in shaping the global economy and the way people share information and knowledge. At present, the telecommunication sector is liable for its energy consumption and the amount of emissions it emits in the environment. In the context of off-grid telecommunication applications, off-grid base stations (BSs) are commonly used due to their ability to provide radio coverage over a wide geographic area. However, in the past, the off-grid BSs usually relied on emission-intensive power supply solutions such as diesel generators. In this review paper, various types of solutions (including, in particular, the sustainable solutions) for powering BSs are discussed. The key aspects in designing an ideal power supply solution are reviewed, and these mainly include the pre-feasibility study and the thermal management of BSs, which comprise heating and cooling of the BS shelter/cabinets and BS electronic equipment and power supply components. The sizing and optimization approaches used to design the BSs’ power supply systems as well as the operational and control strategies adopted to manage the power supply systems are also reviewed in this paper.
Highlights
The telecommunication sector plays a significant role in shaping the global economy and the way people share information and knowledge
From the same report, the mobile network dominates the highest amount of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and 103 Mt CO2e is estimated to be released in the environment in 2020 if there is no obligatory action taken in order to achieve green telecommunication networks
Where PTOTAL is the total energy consumption of the base stations (BSs), nSC is the number of sectors, nTX is the antenna number of the BS, PAmp is the energy consumed by the amplifier, PTrans is the energy consumed by the transceiver, PProc is the energy consumed by the digital processing equipment, PDC/DC is the energy consumed by the converter, PGen is the energy consumed by power supply components, and PCool/Heat is the energy consumed by the cooling/heating system
Summary
The telecommunication sector plays a significant role in shaping the global economy and the way people share information and knowledge. This projection of global electricity consumption is expected to escalate at an annual additional rate of 10% between 2013 and 2018, as reported by the Cisco Visual Networking Index: Forecasts and Methodology Report [6] This makes the telecom operator networks the most electrical energy-intensive consumer within the telecommunication networks that is responsible for the amount of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions it emits into the environment. In the case when the connection to the electricity grid is unavailable or it is very costly to extend the electricity grid connection, macro BSs are preferable by the telecom operators as compared to the micro and small cells’ BSs that are much lower in coverage capability and energy consumption [10,13] This type of macro BS is known as the off-grid BS, where its application is suitable for remote telecommunication applications [10]. The paper discusses the operating and control strategies used for managing the hybrid power supply and energy storage systems
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