Operational aspects and power architecture design for a microgrid to increase the use of renewable energy in wireless communication networks

Discusses the design of a power and control architecture for wireless communication networks that enables an increased use of renewable energy sources than in the conventional present approach. In the proposed approach a group of cell sites forms a dc microgrid in which their power consumption is coordinated with the power generated from renewable sources in order to manage local energy resources effectively. That is, load management is coordinated with power generation and use of local energy storage. In addition to environmental benefits, this proposed microgrid enhances power supply availability in cell sites and, thus, may improve wireless networks performance during natural disasters and other extreme events.