Capacity Optimization of Renewable Energy Sources and Battery Storage in an Autonomous Telecommunication Facility

This paper describes a robust optimization approach to minimize the total cost of supplying a remote telecommunication station exclusively by renewable energy sources (RES). Due to the intermittent nature of RES, such as photovoltaic (PV) panels and small wind turbines, they are normally supported by a central energy storage system (ESS), consisting of a battery and a fuel cell. The optimization is carried out as a robust mixed-integer linear program (RMILP), and results in different optimal solutions, depending on budgets of uncertainty, each of which yields different RES and storage capacities. These solutions are then tested against a set of possible outcomes, thus simulating the future operation of the system. Since battery cycling is inevitable in this application, an algorithm that counts the number of cycles and associated depths of discharges (DoD) is applied to the optimization results. The annual capacity reduction that results from these cycles is calculated for two types of battery technologies, i.e., valve-regulated lead-acid (VRLA) and lithium-ion (Li-ion), and treated as an additional cost. Finally, all associated costs are added up and the ideal configuration is proposed.