Techno-economics of solar PV array-based hybrid systems for powering telecom towers

Niranjan Rao Deevela (), Bhim Singh and Tara C. Kandpal
Additional contact information
Niranjan Rao Deevela: Indian Institute of Technology Delhi
Bhim Singh: Indian Institute of Technology Delhi
Tara C. Kandpal: Indian Institute of Technology Delhi

Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development, 2021, vol. 23, issue 11, No 59, 17003-17029

Abstract: Abstract An attempt has been made to evaluate the financial feasibility of hybrid power supply option during real-time grid power unavailability (continuous and intermittent) conditions and determine the optimal hybrid power supply configurations for outdoor telecom towers in India. As grid power availability is highly dependent on locations, a review of real-time hourly grid power supply availability for telecom towers at 36 locations in different parts of India has also been presented. Ten different locations across different climatic zones were analyzed, and it was found that duration and continuity (continuous and intermittent) of power outages considerably affect the LCOE of different configurations. So it is imperative that these factors be taken into account when determining the optimal hybrid power system. Solar PV-based hybrid power supply systems were found to have lower LCOE for all power outage conditions both in continuous as well as intermittent with their values in the range of Indian rupees (INR) 6.76–INR 26.32 (US $0.095–US $0.371) per kWh for the optimal cases (1 US$ = INR 76.28 (As on April 27, 2020)). While solar PV with battery is found to be the least cost hybrid power supply options for the telecom towers located in areas with continuous grid power unavailability up to 4 h, a diesel generator also needs to be included for larger hours of continuous grid unavailability.

Keywords: Telecom towers; Grid power outage; Renewable energy; Hybrid systems; Levelized cost of electricity; HOMER (search for similar items in EconPapers)
Date: 2021
References: View references in EconPapers View complete reference list from CitEc
Citations: View citations in EconPapers (1)

Downloads: (external link)
http://link.springer.com/10.1007/s10668-021-01379-z Abstract (text/html)
Access to the full text of the articles in this series is restricted.

Related works:
This item may be available elsewhere in EconPapers: Search for items with the same title.

Export reference: BibTeX RIS (EndNote, ProCite, RefMan) HTML/Text

Persistent link: https://EconPapers.repec.org/RePEc:spr:endesu:v:23:y:2021:i:11:d:10.1007_s10668-021-01379-z

Ordering information: This journal article can be ordered from
http://www.springer.com/economics/journal/10668

DOI: 10.1007/s10668-021-01379-z

Access Statistics for this article

Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development is currently edited by Luc Hens

More articles in Environment, Development and Sustainability: A Multidisciplinary Approach to the Theory and Practice of Sustainable Development from Springer
Bibliographic data for series maintained by Sonal Shukla () and Springer Nature Abstracting and Indexing ().