Scientists have simulated a 4G and 5G -Cellular base station in Kuwait, powered by a combination of solar energy, hydrogen and a diesel generator. The lowest energy costs turned out to be $ 0.0714/kWh.
Researchers at Kuwait’s Kuwait University have proposed to operate 4G and 5G -Cellular Basic Stations (BSS) with local hybrid plants of solar PV and hydrogen. The team has Numeric a few configurations for such a station simulation, the team has just considered present cost (NPC), the costs of energy (COE) and CO2 emissions. The simulation took place under the conditions of Hawally, a city in the east of Kuwait.
“Renewable energy sources (Ress) such as solar and wind can be used to provide BSS with power and to offer sustainable and environmentally friendly alternatives to traditional scheduling power or diesel generators (DGs),” the academics said. “The use of Ress in feeding BSS can also help to lower operational costs and increase network availability, in particular in remote areas where access to scheduling power can be limited or unreliable.”
The PV capacity in the simulation was based on 285 W panels with an efficiency of 17.41% or 665 W and 21.4%. The storage was based on a battery bank (BB) with 244 AH and the inverters were supposed to have an efficiency of 95%. A DG system with a minimum tax ratio of 25% was also implemented for times in which the renewable production does not meet demand. Electrolyzers with 85% efficiency were also assumed.
“The BS loading profile was obtained for the period from November 2021 to October 2022,” the group added. “The dc -annual average energy is determined as 122.11 kWh/day, while the annual average energy of AC is obtained as 110 kWh/day. In turn, the total average energy is 232.11 kWh/day. The DC peak power is 15.10 kW and the AC peak power is approximately 13.6 kW. “
For each simulation results, when 285 W is used, the optimized size of the system uses 194 panels for a total capacity of 55.1 kW, together with DG of 34 kW, fuel cell (FC) of 5 kW, Electrolyzer of 5 kW, hydrogen , hydrogen, hydrogen, hydrogen tank of 15 kg and a converter of 12.7 kW. The annual PV production is in this case 97,923 kWh and the FC is 766 kWh. The NPC is $ 160.075, COE is $ 0.0945 and the annual CO2 emission of the DG is 5,317 kg.
However, when 665 W is used, the optimized size of the system uses 95 panels for a total capacity of 63.1 kW, along with DG of 34 kW, FC of 5 kW, Electrolyzer of 5 kW, hydrogen tank of 5 kg and a inverter of 13.5 kW. The annual PV production is in this case 114,304 kWh and the FC production is 832 kWh. The NPC is $ 121,014, COE of $ 0.0714, and the annual CO₂ emission of the DG is 3,257 kg.
“When limiting the DG capacity in the PV-HFC-DG-BB model, the simulations show that limiting DG to lower values than the non-restricted ‘base’ housing the NPC (up to 7.71% ) and the system area can lower (Up (Up (up to 9.93%), “the group added.” In fact, when using a DG with small capacity, the system will be forced to the FC energy production which leads to a significant decrease in CO2 emissions (with 51.12%) while the renewable energy consumption is improved (with 1.44%).
The system was presented in “Hybrid solar PV/Hydrogen fuel cell-based cellular base stations in KuwaitPublished in the Journal of Engineering Research.
Looking ahead, the scientists said they want to consider hybrid PV-Wind-HFC systems in on-grid and off-grid system configurations, as well as the use of PV panels with a higher peak output power. “It would be interesting to study the possibilities of using a wind turbine by including it in the hybrid solar pv/HFC -electric system at different locations in Kuwait,” they added.
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