The impact of electric energy consumption from telecommunications systems on isolated microgrids

Information and Communication Technologies (ICTs) play a key role in the modernization of the power grid. The goals are to reduce carbon emissions, to integrate more renewable power generation into the grid, and to manage the system in a reliable and robust way. A new issue faced by telecommunications system is the cost of energy consumption of their networks. Although the ICT is a major core of the smart grid, the demanded energy for communication purposes is high, and it is critical, especially in emergency conditions where the energy supply is scarce. Many researches around the world are seeking ways to develop greener communications networks, but none has investigated their impact in islanded grids. In this paper the energy consumption from a wireless based communication network in an islanded microgrid and their influence on the microgrids operation are investigated. The modified IEEE 34 bus system is used to study the performance of a homogeneous wireless communications system based on the fourth cellular generation.