Hybrid PV/FC stand alone green power generation: A perspective for Indian rural telecommunication systems

The objective of this paper is to conceptualize and explore the renewable energy utilization in Indian rural telecom areas and development of hybrid PV/FC green power generation for various telecommunication systems e.g. base transceiver station (BTS) at telecom sites, local data transmission system, power backup for mobile charging/other appliances. The cost of the grid power generation is so high, moreover transmission as well as maintenance of grid power in remote areas is also a challenging job. The average per day grid power availability by region in India is presented. Over all fuel consumption and cost analysis of conventional and non-conventional energy is discussing in this paper. The photovoltaic (PV) system is considered as main power generating source for supplying the telecommunication equipments and FC is considered as secondary source. The operating parameters of various types of fuel cells are presented, in which proton exchange membrane fuel cell (PEMFC) is considered for power backup supply in place of energy storage system (ESS) due to its high power density in telecom applications. The modeling and analysis of PV and PEMFC based systems have been done using MATLAB Simulink environment.