Cost-Aware Renewable Energy Management With Application in Cellular Networks

In this paper, we propose a cost minimization strategy for facilities with shared access to a renewable energy farm. We assume space-time varying electricity prices, and model the facilities as non-deferrable time-varying loads. A practical application of such an arrangement can be found in cellular networks, where operators can deploy a centralized energy farm to (partially) power their base stations in a given geographical area. Unlike existing works, we take into account the non-linear behavior of the battery at the energy farm, and obtain closed-form results by solving the corresponding optimization problem in continuous time. We also derive a closed-form expression which estimates the maximum cost saving in terms of the total energy harvested across the entire planning horizon. The results presented in this paper can be used to devise and benchmark low-complexity online strategies, and to understand the relationship between the maximum cost saving, the optimal consumption rate of renewable energy, and system parameters such as battery efficiency and nominal output power.