Hybrid solar PV/hydrogen fuel cell-based cellular base-stations in Kuwait

The rapid development of wireless technologies and the increasing demand for mobile services and applications have resulted in the need for high-speed wide-coverage communications. This development has evolved cellular networks from the first generation (1G) to the fifth generation (5G) today, and the increased demand for higher data rates has necessitated the deployment of more cellular base-stations (BSs). However, the energy requirements of these BSs are conventionally met from non-renewable energy sources, such as the diesel generator (DG) or the electrical grid. This in turn has resulted in the generation of harmful greenhouse gas emissions, such as carbon dioxide (CO₂). Hence, there is an urgent need for more environment-friendly and cost-effective energy sources to power cellular BSs. In response, integrating solar photovoltaic (PV) panels with Hydrogen fuel cells (HFCs) has emerged as a viable solution to power cellular BSs in Kuwait and the globe. In this paper, an off-grid hybrid PV/HFC-based electric system is designed to energize an urban 4G/5G cellular BS in Kuwait to reduce CO₂ emissions, and lower long-term capital and maintenance costs. The HOMER software is used to design, simulate, and optimize various electric system configurations comprising PV panels, HFCs, DGs, and a battery bank (BB) to minimize the net-present-cost (NPC) and the cost-of-energy (COE), while considering two PV panels with different peak output power and also constraining the PV and/or DG capacities. The simulation results revealed that the PV-HFC-DG-BB system configuration can be used to power cellular base-stations cost-effectively. Not only that, but by constraining the PV and/or DG capacity and utilizing a dual-axis tracker, it has been possible to further reduce the NPC, while trading off CO₂ emissions and overall system area.