Optimising a Hybrid Renewable Energy System for a Telecommunication Site in Trinidad & Tobago: A Case Study

Unofficial AI-generated summary based on the public title and abstract. Not an official translation.

🔬研究者:Methodology for sizing hybrid renewable systems in subsidized markets and sensitivity to sell-back rates.

🏢実務担当者:Insights on cost thresholds for economical renewable integration at telecom sites, including wind vs. solar feasibility.

🏛政策担当者:Evidence on how subsidy structures and sell-back rates affect renewable energy penetration in small island contexts.

<title>Abstract</title> <p> There is a paradigm shift among global telecommunication operators to reduce their operational expenditure through more energy efficient practices while mitigating environmental degradation by reducing their carbon footprint. Related to this shift, this investigation looks at a techno-economic analysis for integrating a renewable energy system at a small satellite communication site in Trinidad and Tobago. This study aims to determine the most energy efficient hybrid design, to determine the feasibility of pricing various scenarios, and to quantify the CO ₂ and renewable energy (RE) fraction for the various scenarios. To achieve this a synthetic energy load profile was developed using metered utility data and this was incorporated into the HOMER Pro software. Additionally, solar and wind resource statistics from NREL were accessed through HOMER and served as vital inputs for the modelling, simulation and optimisation of the proposed systems. At the present subsidised electricity rates for commercial customers of US0.061$/kWh, RE penetration was not found to be economical. Under this pricing scenario, optimal electricity energy source was the grid, with the site using approximately 5260 kWh/year at an annual cost of US$320.84 and associated CO ₂ emissions of 2945 kg. At an estimated unsubsidised price of US$0.19/kWh, while Solar PV was seen to be still uneconomical, RE from wind was shown to be feasible with a 51.7% RE fraction. Applicable to T&T, the optimally designed RE system at the site would still be uneconomical and the cost at which such a system starts to make economic sense was found to be US$0.15/kWh (with a 10% RE penetration). Using a regional average unsubsidised cost of US$0.22/kWh, the RE system makes became more economical, with a larger RE penetration of 36.2% and corresponding CO ₂ savings of 222,328 kg/year. At sell back rates of 50% purchase rates, the lowest cost for economical RE penetration is lowered to US$0.14/kWh. These findings can help to guide future research in the field as well as responsible decision/ policy making in TT and the Caribbean region at large. </p>

• Research Square https://doi.org/10.21203/rs.3.rs-9998428/v1first seen 2026-06-15 04:41:54 · last seen 2026-06-16 04:30:21