Design of a solar/wind power supply for a remote data acquisition station

The authors report on simulation calculations carried out to determine the system configuration of an autonomous renewable power supply for a remote ecological station monitoring concentrations of O ₃ and NO₂. The system has a mean electric load of 100-120 W, is powered by photovoltaics and a wind-energy converter, and includes a Pb-battery storage. No backup energy source is used. The same system design should be valid for telecommunication stations having a power demand in the same range. Although the given site is characterized by a rather poor wind climate (v_10m=3.7 m/s), the utilization of two to-some-extent complementary energy sources leads to a considerable saving in hardware investments. the levelling of the energy production is beneficial for the system´s battery. Only 30-35% of the load is supplied by the battery, thus yielding a low effective cycling rate which extends the lifetime of the battery. Load management strategies may improve the matching of load profile and renewable energy production considerably. Reductions in system hardware up to a factor of 2 (depending on the applied strategy) are possible