Environmental Impact Assessment of Power Generation Systems at GSM (Global Systems for Mobile Communication) Base Station Site

Abstract

Hybrid power systems were used to minimize the environmental impact of power generation at GSM (global systems for mobile communication) base station sites. This paper presents the comparative environmental impact assessment of a diesel gas (DG) and hybrid (PV/wind/hydro/diesel) power system for the base station sites. The assessment was based on theoretical modeling of the power stations using Hybrid Optimization Model for Electric Renewables (HOMER) software. The model was designed to provide an optimal system configuration based on hour-by-hour data for energy availability and demands. Energy source, energy storage and their applicability in terms of performance are discussed. The proposed hybrid (solar, wind & hydro) + DG system was simulated using the model which results in eight different topologies: hybrid (solar, wind & hydro) + DG, hybrid (solar & hydro) + DG, hybrid (wind & hydro) + DG, hydro only + DG, hybrid (solar & wind) + DG, solar only + DG, wind only + DG, DG. From the simulation results, it is shown that a 69% renewable energy penetration in the designed hybrid PV/wind/hydro/diesel system reduces the quantity of different air pollutants relative to the case of a diesel-only system. Details of the comparisons are presented.