Technical and economical comparison of photovoltaic solar system and AC mains powering for advanced optical network units at remote sites

The trend towards the use of more distributed telecommunication equipment, makes nowadays more difficult to select the right powering strategy of those systems. In this way, the need for powering the remote units sometimes collides with the fact that the public grid (220 VAC) is not always available near to telecommunication equipment, it is difficult or even impossible to access to it. Related to these difficulties, the policy of the necessary power back-up (placement and size) plays also an important role when selecting the best powering possibilities, because of cost and maintenance issues. Solar photovoltaics (PV) systems appear as an attractive and ecological powering option in order to use it for optical network units (ONU) in the advanced access telecommunication systems at remote sites. Nevertheless, the mature AC powering system has the advantage of minimum installation and maintenance cost. In this sense, a deep analysis of the main issues that impact in both solar and AC mains powering architecture have been analysed. The result is a very useful tables that allows to select the best powering option under performances and cost points of view.