Feasibility Analysis of Stand-Alone Renewable Energy Supply For Telecommunication Tower Using Homer
Feasibility Analysis of Stand-Alone Renewable Energy Supply For Telecommunication Tower Using Homer
Feasibility Analysis of Stand-Alone Renewable Energy Supply For Telecommunication Tower Using Homer
Abstract. This paper deals with the importance and need of using solar photovoltaic (PV) system as
a stand-alone system instead of diesel generators for electrical energy supply of a communication
tower owned by Celcom (Malaysia) Berhad at G0422 Batu 18, Ulu Langat, Selangor, Malaysia. It
can be considered as a commercial renewable energy application in Malaysia, addressing the
potential and possibility of adopting solar energy resources, particularly for sectors with high
energy consumption. The electric power generation system, which consists of solar PV system
hybrid with diesel generator, has the ability to provide 24 hours electricity to the load. To optimize
the system design, this work compares a wide range of equipment with different constraints and
sensitivities. The Hybrid Optimization Model for Electric Renewables (HOMER) was utilized for
designing the system in the early phases of planning and decision making in rural electrification
projects due to its flexibility. The analysis is based on the technical properties and life cycle cost
(LCC) of the system. The initial capital cost, cost of installation and operation costs over the
system’s life span is comprised in the LCC. This system offers a better reliability, efficiency,
flexibility of planning and environmental benefits compared to the diesel generators systems by
saving the environment from the burning of fossil fuels. The proposed system is able to supply
3.5kW of power which is suitable for actual site loading requirement of around 3kW. The economic
output from HOMER exhibits that the tower without diesel generator, total net present cost is RM
610,639, the highest compared with a tower with diesel generator; RM 421,244.
Introduction
According to Malaysia Energy Information Hub (MEIH) the consumption of energy in Malaysia
rises rapidly, increasing at an average rate of 5% in the 1980s and 12% in 2009[1]. The Malaysian
government has looked into the renewable energy (RE) sources such as solar energy to be one of
the alternatives to face problems related with the increase in energy demand. The consumption of
fossil fuel in electricity generation contributes to the emission of greenhouse gases. The emission of
greenhouse gases causes global warming and climate change. The increase in fossil fuel prices
today and the country's commitment to reduce the carbon emission has supported the interests in
expanding the use of renewable energy.
Hybrid energy is the combined use of two or more forms of energy resulting in a more efficient
system overall. In some applications, it is both economical and desirable to use a hybrid system,
whereby the photovoltaic (PV) supplies some or most of the load, but with an auxiliary generator as
a backup. This allows the stand-alone PV system to be designed to a quite low availability, usually
resulting in considerable savings on battery capacity and to a lesser extent on PV array.
Due to the demands for higher reliability combined with lower operational costs, the use of
hybrid systems has become an obvious solution. Additionally, life cost analysis of such systems
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224 Progress in Energy and Thermal Sciences
show that a hybrid system lifetime cost provides more benefits in comparison with typical power
supply schemes such as conventional generators. For telecommunication installations, it is
considered as common practice to supply power using a diesel engine generator (DEG) system or a
stand-alone PV system.
The objective of this research work is to perform feasibility analysis on PV diesel hybrid
renewable energy system for telecommunication tower using HOMER (The Hybrid Optimization
Model for Electric Renewables) simulation as an alternative for existing system. The analysis
including economic and effectiveness of the hybrid system are also reported. The three major
actions could be performed by HOMER are simulation, optimization and sensitivity analysis[2-4].
Method
The proposed hybrid renewable consists of a solar PV panels, battery, and charge controller
(inverter) are included as part of back-up and storage system. Figure. 1 shows the block diagram for
hybrid system of PV-diesel generator.
Solar PV Panels
Charge
Controller
Diesel Generator AC/DC Load
AC/DC
Battery Bank
Figure. 2 shows the simulink circuit for simulation of PV diesel hybrid system for powering
telecommunication tower. This circuit are consist of PV panel, buck converter, rechargeable battery
and primary load. Table 1 shows the parameter and specification of this circuit. This research
project consist of a PV diesel charge controller using a buck converter to track the maximum power
point (MPP) of PV module. The main contribution of the project is the modeling of buck converter
using equation modeling, which allows the input voltage of the buck converter to be controlled by
maximum power point tracker (MPPT) algorithm. A charge controller is an essential part of any
wind or solar system to ensure the batteries are not over or under charged. The charge controller
monitors the battery voltage and switches the batteries off charge when they are fully charged, and
switches them back on charge when they reach a pre-set level of discharge. The equipment is high
reliability because of having extra-large heat sink and efficient ventilation design ensure reliable
and efficient operation.
The electrical characteristic of PV module considered in this work is described in Table 2.
Figure. 3 shows the annual P-V radiation characteristic of PV module. The average of
5.343kWh/m2/d value is chosen from the output result of HOMER simulation.
Applied Mechanics and Materials Vol. 818 225
Variable Value/Specification
PV 1kW
Generator 1kW
Load 3kW
Converter 1kW
Battery 6V, 1,156Ah
At this situation, the PV cannot be operated temporary. It is also found that the monthly average
electrical production of this system. From the results, we found a total of 78% of the energy
generated from solar energy sources, while 22% of the energy produced from generator energy.
78% of the solar energy produced is 9,372 kWh/yr, while 22% of energy from diesel generator is
2,682 kWh/yr. The total amount of energy that can be produced by solar and generator energy
sources is of 12,055 kWh/yr. Therefore, average power can be generated by generator-solar system
is 1004.58kWh/month. For the load, the maximum load average is 10,439kWh/yr, which means
average load per month is 869,92kW/h.
Summary
An analysis of a PV-diesel hybrid renewable for telecommunication tower using HOMER
simulation at site project G0422, BT 18 Ulu Langat, Selangor, Malaysia has been performed. The
renewable energy system is able to supply 3.5kW of power which is suitable for an actual site
loading requirement of about 3kW. Economic output from HOMER exhibits that
telecommunication tower without diesel generator total net present cost is RM 610,639, much
higher compared with the tower with diesel generator (RM421,244).
Acknowledgements
The authors would like to thank Malaysian Ministry of Education (MoE) and Universiti Teknologi
Malaysia (UTM) for facilitating of this works by awarding research grant (Vot. No.
Q.J1300.2523.00H19, R.J13000.7823.4L055, R. J130000.7809.4F515, R. J130000.7909.4S101,
Q.J130000.2509.08H65, and R. J130000.2523.04H67).
References
[1] Malaysia Energy Information Hub (MEIH): http://meih.st.gov.my/statistics
[2] M. A. Dalla Costa, L. Schuch, L. Michels, C. Rech, J. R. Pinheiro and G. H. Costa, Autonomous
street lighting system based on solar energy and LEDs, Federal University of Santa Maria UFSM.
[3] M. S. Alam and D. W. Gao, Modeling and analysis of awind/pv/fuel cell hybrid power system in
HOMER, IEEE Conference on Industrial Electronics and Applications, 23-25 September 2007.
[4] N. A. A. Razak, M. M. Othman, I. Musirin, Optimal sizing and operational strategy of hybrid
renewable energy system using HOMER, The 4th International Power Engineering and
Optimization Conf. (PEOCO2010), Shah Alam, Selangor, MALAYSIA: 23-24 June 2010.
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