Renewable energy in cellular networks: A survey

In recent years a lot of research work was dedicated to energy efficiency in cellular networks. An emerging field of interest in that direction is the use of renewable energy sources such as wind and solar — a type of energy that is bound to increase and develop. In this paper we survey the existing works and present the fundamental principles and motivations necessary for a thorough understanding of the usage of renewable energy in cellular networks. Furthermore, we introduce a reference model for renewable energy base station (REBS) and provide analysis of its components. The synthesis of dedicated REBS algorithms, system architectures, deployment strategies and evaluation metrics provides comprehensive overview and helps identify the perspectives in this promising research field.