Techno-economic evaluation of various hybrid power systems for rural telecom

Nowadays, utility has started to consider the green power technology for having a healthier environment. The green power technologies reduce combustion of fossil fuels and the consequent CO2 emission which is the principle cause of global warming. By maximising the use of the renewable energy, the usage of diesel generator for powering the base transceiver stations could be reduced or removed. This paper aims to investigate the economic, technical and environmental performance of various hybrid power systems for powering remote telecom. Simulations using Hybrid Optimisation Model for Electric Renewable (HOMER) software are performed to determine the Initial Capital, the Total Net Present Cost (TNPC), the Cost of Energy (COE) as well as the system Capacity Shortage of the different supply options. The simulation results suggest a suitable hybrid system which would be the feasible solution for generation of electric power for remote telecom. A detailed analysis, description and modelling of the system are also presented in this paper. (C) 2014 Elsevier Ltd. All rights reserved.