An option for powering ONUs in fiber-in-the-loop systems with solar assistance

Local powering of fiber-in-the-loop (FITL) systems may not be able to provide backup power economically over a long-duration. The authors examine the feasibility of using solar photovoltaic power with local powering, or solar assisted local powering (SALP), to extend local backup indefinitely. A preliminary economic analysis based on the installed first cost of an FITL power system shows that almost unlimited backup can be provided with solar assist for powering costs ranging from about 21% to 76% more than the cost of a limited-carryover stand-alone battery system, sized according to TA-909. A laboratory model of a SALP system used to demonstrate the feasibility of solar assist is described