Photovoltaic power supply for telecommunication network components in remote areas

In general, telecommunication facilities do not allow much flexibility in the choice of location; the main criterion is that the facility must work with 100% availability and reliability. Corresponding to the wide spectrum of locations, the applied power supply technologies are very diverse: grid connection, diesel generators, photovoltaics (PV), fuel cells, thermoelectric converters and wind generators. The first three types of technology have been used by the telecommunications industry for decades. The other options are at developmental stages between laboratory samples and limited series production. The traditional approach to supply power remote from the grid is by using diesel generators and storage batteries. This means high power ratings, but also high prices and a high maintenance demand. The convergence of telecommunications networks, i.e. overlap of the cabled network and radio cellular networks, with its enormous demand for installation sites, introduces new demands on power supplies: they must be reliable, maintenance-free, inexpensive, and flexibly adaptable to widely divergent technologies. For two examples, a PV-hybrid system for a repeater station for cellular phones, and a PV powered intelligent information system, the advantages that PV off-grid solutions offer in the system design are shown.