An evolutionary algorithm for energy management in cellular base stations under time-of-use pricing

In this paper, we propose an evolutionary algorithm to minimize the energy bill incurred by a cellular base station (CBS) that is equipped with a rechargeable battery. Assuming time-of-use electricity pricing, we formulate an optimization problem to minimize the energy expenditures incurred by the CBS. Unlike existing strategies, the proposed algorithm takes into account the non-linear properties of the rechargeable battery. More specifically, Peukert´s law is used to model the energy loss incurred during the discharging operation. As a result, the energy-bill minimization problem is non-convex. We therefore use the concept of evolution strategy to devise an algorithm that minimizes the energy bill, and at the same time ensures maximum renewable energy usage. The proposed algorithm exhibits linear time complexity and is able to achieve convergence within a few hundreds of iterations. Finally, we use simulations to show that the proposed algorithm outperforms the solutions based on linearised models.