HOMER Analysis of the Feasibility of Solar Power for GSM Base Transceiver Stations Located in Rural Areas

Abstract

The recent explosion in the deployment of cellular networks across the globe has brought two very pertinent issues to the forefront of academic and technical discuss: the energy cost of running the networks, and the associated environmental impact. Cellular networks have made the greatest impact in developing countries where availability of electric power is mostly unreliable. Telecommunication networks on the other hand, are critical infrastructures which require assured power 24/7, and this power is provided at very great financial cost and damaging exchanges with the environment. In all, renewable energy technology appears to hold the most reliable solution to this lingering impasse. The authors in this paper used the HOMER® software to access or demonstrate the feasibility of deploying solar PV in providing power for BTS in rural areas as a long term solution to the near absence of grid electricity in rural areas.