Sustainable Growth in the Telecom Industry through Hybrid Renewable Energy Integration: A Technical, Energy, Economic and Environmental (3E) Analysis

Abstract

In response to escalating concerns about climate change, there is a growing imperative to prioritize the decarbonization of the telecom sector and effectively reduce its carbon emissions. This study presents a thorough techno-economic optimization framework for implementing renewable-dominated hybrid standalone systems for the base transceiver station (BTS) encapsulation telecom sector in Pakistan. It is noted that from the results obtained from 42 BTS sites overall, 21 BTS sites had a feasible combination of a photovoltaic battery system, having a diesel generator as a backup source with an average LCOE of 0.1246 USD/kWh to 0.2325 USD/kWh. Thus, seven BTS sites had an optimal combination of biomass, with photovoltaic and battery storage systems and with a varied LCOE of 0.1175 USD/kWh to 0.1318 USD/kWh. Moreover, due to the high flow of hydro water in the north region, five BTS sites presented an ideal configuration of a hydro system coupled with a photovoltaic, wind, and battery storage system, with a varied LCOE of 0.04547 USD/kWh to 0.07419 USD/kWh. Wind energy systems are dominant in the southern region; therefore, five BTS sites presented an ideal combination of a wind energy system coupled with a photovoltaic battery storage system, having DGs as backup sources for sustainability and with a varied LCOE of 0.1096 USD/kWh to 0.1294 USD/kWh. In addition, 02 BTSs had an optimal combination of photovoltaic systems coupled with hydro and wind systems, with diesel generators having a varied LCOE of 0.07618 USD/kWh to 0.04575 USD/kWh. The remaining 02 BTS sites had a feasible combination of wind–hydro-battery and diesel generator–photovoltaic–hydro-battery systems, with an LCOE of 0.7035 USD/kWh and 0.1073 USD/kWh, respectively. Finally, an environmental analysis based on carbon emissions, as well as sensitivity analyses based on different uncertainties, i.e., wind speed, solar irradiance, inflation rate, discount rate, and load demand, was performed to evaluate the behavior of the proposed systems. The optimization of these systems and comparative study findings indicate that the hybrid BTS system is the best option, better than conventional diesel-operated BTS systems in terms of cost-effectiveness, environmental friendliness, and sustainability.