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The growing adoption of renewable energy changes the energy infrastructure in many ways. In particular, solar photovoltaic (PV) systems become one of the main elements of such infrastructure providing a flexible source of clean energy at utility, commercial, industrial scales and even at remote infrastructures.
Nevertheless, solar energy alone does not guarantee continuous power supply because of its generation dependency on weather conditions, daylight and seasonality. With the rising share of renewables, the ability to store the energy becomes crucial.
One of the technologies designed to address this issue is battery energy storage systems (BESS). Meanwhile, the industries requiring a continuous power supply, including telecom facilities, consider solar and storage systems as a promising way to increase the reliability and decrease dependency on conventional energy sources.
Thus, a combination of solar PV, battery storage and energy management turns out to be a promising solution to improve the resilience of energy infrastructure.
As was mentioned, energy production using solar energy is highly variable. During daytime hours PV systems are able to produce more electricity than necessary. During nighttime or periods of insufficient solar irradiance, the production falls sharply or even stops.
Thus, without efficient means to store electricity, a company is forced either to export surplus generation or even to curtail the generation depending on electricity market conditions and system design.
Battery storage becomes a solution helping to store extra solar generation and consume it later. A typical hybrid solar-plus-storage system is composed of PV modules, battery modules, power conversion system (PCS), battery management system (BMS) and energy management system (EMS).
These elements allow coordinating the generation, charging, discharging and consumption processes.
For commercial and industrial applications, such system allows achieving the following objectives:
Energy shifting
Peak shaving
Provision of backup power
Integration of renewable energy
Implementation of microgrid operation
The required storage capacity will depend on the specific load profile, generation of solar energy, backup time and operating strategy. Particularly, modular and containerized solutions turn out to be very helpful for flexible scaling of projects’ capacity.
As energy storage projects grow larger and become more complex, integrated solutions for battery storage become of increasing interest. Containerized BESS combines battery modules, power conversion equipment, thermal management, fire protection and monitoring into a compact solution. Such system architecture can facilitate transportation, installation and system commissioning process.
Compared to assembly of separate equipment at construction site, pre-assembled solutions can reduce on-site integration efforts and provide unified equipment configuration. Another advantage of this solution is scalability: depending on the specific of the project, multiple storage modules can be combined to achieve required power and energy capacities. It makes the technology applicable for renewables power plants, industrial applications, microgrids and grid services.
However, there are many parameters to be considered when choosing a solution including:
Battery chemistry and cycle life
Rated power and usable energy capacity
Round trip efficiency
Cooling and temperature management
Fire detection and suppression
Battery management and energy management functionalities
Ability to work in grid-connected and off-grid mode
Lithium iron phosphate (LFP) batteries are extensively used in stationary energy storage applications owing to high level of thermal stability and positive cycle-life characteristics.
Thus, for the project developers and system integrators, containerized battery energy storage systems can be viewed as a practical reference allowing to evaluate BESS architecture, capacity options and renewable energy applications.
Telecommunication facilities represent another type of application where power supply becomes very important. Cellular base stations, microwave transmission towers, wireless repeaters and remote communication facilities operate 24/7 and any interruption in power supply will have negative consequences for the network availability and quality of service.
In urban environments, the telecom sites usually have access to power grid although some issues such as blackouts and voltage variations can become a problem. However, remote facilities face additional challenges in terms of limited access to power grid, difficulties with transportations and high expenses for diesel generator operations.
Solar energy generation combined with battery storage turns out to be a good solution in this case. A typical hybrid telecom power system may include:
Solar photovoltaic modules;
Lithium battery storage;
Hybrid power controllers;
AC/DC power conversion equipment;
Backup from grid or diesel generator;
Remote monitoring and energy management.
This system can use solar generation first of all to power the equipment and charge batteries from surplus energy. In case of shortage of solar energy, the stored energy can be used to power the equipment. Backup power from the grid or diesel generator can be used to supplement the lack of renewable energy and stored energy.
Such approach allows reducing operating time of generator, expenses for fuel and maintenance costs as well as maintaining continuous power supply.
However, the design of telecom power system requires thorough analysis of specific conditions. Engineers have to calculate equipment load, requirements to DC voltage, solar irradiation, battery autonomy, temperature and availability of backup power.
Design of telecom solar power systems demonstrates how generation, battery storage, hybrid power control and remote monitoring can be used to provide power to cellular towers and other telecommunication facilities.
Besides hardware integration, intelligent energy management plays a significant role in power supply reliability.
EMS tracks the information about generation, batteries state, load demand and grid conditions. Using the predefined operating strategies, this system controls charging and discharging, manages power flow and responds to changing energy needs.
For the commercial solar-plus-storage project, the EMS can prioritize the self-consumption of the generated energy, charging batteries during the excess of generation and discharging of stored energy during peak tariff periods.
In case of remote telecom facility, the operating strategy can focus on power supply continuity. Solar energy generation can be prioritized, batteries can ensure reserve capacity while diesel generators can be used to compensate for the lack of renewable energy and stored energy.
The remote monitoring becomes particularly useful for geographically distributed facilities. It allows operators to track the state of batteries, detect abnormal conditions and control the equipment without on-site visits.
With increasing numbers of renewable energy installations, intelligent control and monitoring of systems will become increasingly important.
Although solar PV and battery storage present numerous opportunities, efficient deployment of projects requires a project-specific engineering approach.
First of all, the accurate estimation of load profile should be performed. The information about electricity consumption and peak load allows estimating required PV capacity and battery size.
Also, local environmental conditions should be taken into account. Solar irradiation, ambient temperature, humidity, dust and extreme weather conditions can affect the equipment selection and system performance.
Thirdly, battery capacity should be calculated according to the usable energy rather than nominal capacity because of the depth of discharge, conversion losses, temperature and battery degradation effect.
Finally, backup strategies and safety requirements should be formulated. The grid-connected, off-grid and hybrid projects have different protection, control and operational requirements.
The efficient system should strike a balance between initial cost, operation costs, reliability and long-term maintenance.
Solar PV and battery storage represent the complementary technologies in the development of modern energy infrastructure. While the solar energy provides a renewable source of energy, batteries help to improve its flexibility and reliability.
Whether it is a commercial or industrial facility, or a remote telecommunications network, integrated energy solutions allow reducing dependency on conventional energy sources, improving power supply reliability and expanding renewable electricity usage.
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