A PROJECT REPORT ON SIZING AND COSTING OF CPV-DIESEL HYBRID SYSTEM FOR POWERING TELECOMS BTS PATRICK O OVUCHE M.

Eng Project Director, DAPPCOM NIGERIA Phase 5, shops V13 and W14, mammy market, Navy town, Lagos, Nigeria +2347060894858 greatmindsspeak@yahoo.com COMPANY PROFILE DAPPCOM Nigeria is a company incorporated and registered in the federal republic of Nigeria with company number BN 2037289 whose registration office is at phase 5, shops V13 and W14, mammy market, navy town, Lagos, Nigeria. We specialise in products and services ranging from design and installation of solar systems, sales and supplies of solar products, telecoms equipments, services of general goods, contracts, electrical /electronics, road transports, import and export. We also offer our impeccable consultant services to clients willing to establish in the renewable energy sector. STATEMENT OF PROBLEM The search for steady electricity to power telecoms base transceiver station (BTS) has been elusive over the years due to epileptic power supply from National grid. The Nigerian communications commission (NCC) on may 10th 2012, slammed the telecom operators ( mtn, globacom, etisalat, airtel ) a fine of $7.3m after months of poor quality service. The regulator body sanctioned the operators, for failing to satisfy the Nigerian mobile user population, who mostly use two lines as an alternative to network failure from any provider. The commission said the telecoms companies have failed to meet with the minimum standard of quality of service, but the telecoms company declined; arguing that poor service quality was due to inadequate developed infrastructure like electricity in the country. Operators however continue to insist that high quality service cannot be guaranteed so far as the BTSs keep running on diesel engine generators (DEG).More often than not, there is a scarcity of diesel coupled with a consistent inflation in price. Operators are faced with the challenge of obtaining the products, transporting to locations (this may take more than two weeks in some rural area), and storage space. In some premises, the electricity supply is partially mitigated by using battery inverter or DC-DC converters. The batteries however remains partially charged if the electricity supply is too unreliable. Such problems are hazardous and difficult to accomplish, resulting in direct and further significant increase in operating expenditure (OPEX). With the recent removal of fuel subsidy, prices have gone up by 50%. All of these have been a major set-back to telecoms operator in recent times; making investors to shift focus into alternative sources as a means of providing constant power supply.

POTENTIAL OF NIGERIA In a bid to sanitise the telecoms sector, NCC on April 2nd 2012, launched a system known as the mobile network portability (MNP). The service is aimed at enabling subscribers switch service providers freely without losing their unique/current phone numbers, at a cost to be borne by the service provider who will receive the new subscriber. This policy is expected to stimulate competition and ensure quality service to mobile users. According to the NCC, the Nigerian mobile phone space has over 120 million active subscribers with 131.8million connected lines and a total of 178.1 million as of February 2012. Telecoms stakeholders are rapidly shifting focus to alternative energy sources as a means of reducing cost and ensuring constant power supply ahead of the MNP system which will take full effect before the end of 2012. Nigeria is within the tropics, which explains the abundant amount of sunshine averaging at 6hours/day and wind speed of about 4.5m/s. when network reaches rural and remote areas ahead of the main electricity supply, alternative power sources are necessary. CPV-Diesel hybrid system addresses the above barrier to a large extent and is therefore considered as emerging alternative solution to constant power supply. It involves a combination of DEG with other forms of RES preferably wind turbine generator (WTG) and/or concentrating photovoltaic module (CPV) as a means of ensuring reliability and efficiency.

COST TO INSTALL EACH SITE The economic viability of using a CPV system to power a BTS is carried out using the LCC method to determine the cost in $/kWh and compare this with the cost in $/kWh using diesel generator and grid utility supplies.

CAPITAL COST ARRAY $19,500

BATTERY INVERTER STSYEM CONTROLLER BOS, TRANSPORTATION, INSTALLATION

$8,625 $4,000 $2,300 $35,000 $69,425

The total cost was derived based on the load profile of a 2G BTS commonly used by operators. The energy demand of 96kWh/day was reached. The value can be considered as the worst case scenario for the consumption of a BTS in Nigeria.

ANNUAL MAINTENANCE COST The upfront cost of CPV system installation is the major cost. Beyond that, very little maintenance is required because there are no moving parts. Some cleaning and annual check-up will generally ensure that the panels are in great working order. Annual maintenance cost is estimated at 2% of capital cost valued at $1,388.5

NON-RECURRING COST This consists of replacement of batteries, inverters, controllers, every 10years. This is 30% of capital cost valued at $20,827.5 The CPV system to power a BTS was sized then life cycle cost (LCC) method of economics assessment was used to compare the cost with the cost of diesel generator and grid utility over the life cycle period of the CPV system which is 30yrs . The LCC of CPV system is $0.06/kwh, that of diesel generator is $1.8/kwh and grid utility is $0.142/kwh. Sensitivity analysis was carried out using variation in module cost, diesel fuel escalation and grid utility escalation. The result suggested that the CPV system is cheaper than the diesel generator and could be the best option out of the three in future. LCC is the total cost of ownership of machinery and equipment including its cost of acquisition, operation, maintenance, conversion and/or decommission. It is pertinent to know that the LCC values are derived specifically for renewable energy system. It does not only depend on economic factors such as inflation rate, interest rate, etc. it also depends on level of development in the technology, abundance of renewable energy sources, system optimization etc. For example, the LCC of a CPV system may be costlier than that of diesel generator in Kenya while it is cheaper than that of diesel generator for the same load in china due to reasons highlighted above. RESULT If we compare the LCC of CPV a period of 30years (assume module derate factor due to dust accumulation, mismatch loss between modules and degradation overtime). It is worthwhile to know that the LCC of CPV system is cheaper than that of diesel and grid utility respectively; based on deg price of $0.96L and fuel escalation of 20%( the value of 20% was uses because in the last five years, the cost of diesel/litre has increased by

>20%). LCC cost varies with decrease in module price/Wp, fuel escalation and utility escalation respectively. Module prices decrease every year with research and development modules with better conversion efficiency are produced. With the abundant solar resource in Nigeria and with the development of more advanced BTS with far less power requirements, the solar CPV system will become easier and cheaper to deploy in the telecommunication sector of Nigeria.

CONCLUSION The result of this research reveals that solar CPV system is more cost effective than the DEG and National grid for powering BTS in Nigeria. Such systems are highly recommended in the rural area where over 60% of the population reside and most of them do not have access to mobile telecommunications. With CPV system supply option, mobile telecommunications operators could build their BTS in the rural areas. Land is readily available to fix the array and there is no need of manning the BTS since the array needs little maintenance. In the urban areas where availability and acquisition of land may be difficult, it is recommended that BTSs employ the 3G or 4G technology that require far less power requirement than the 2G technology. This eventually translates to cheaper and fewer CPV array. Ahead of NCC policy of mobile number portability coupled with the recent increase in electricity tariff from $0.063/kWh to $0.142/kWh for commercial customer, it becomes necessary for operators to independently generate electricity and install equipments that require less power consumption as a means of saving cost and delivering quality service to subscribers.