Energy Provisioning in Stand-alone and Grid-Connected Solar Powered Networks

145 Pages·2013·0.69 MB·English

Energy Provisioning in Stand-alone and
Grid-Connected Solar Powered Networks
ENERGY PROVISIONING IN STAND-ALONE AND
GRID-CONNECTED SOLAR POWERED NETWORKS
BY
MOHAMMADSHEIKHZEFREH,B.Sc.,M.Sc.
A THESIS
SUBMITTED TO THE DEPARTMENT OF ELECTRICAL & COMPUTER ENGINEERING
AND THE SCHOOL OF GRADUATE STUDIES
OF MCMASTER UNIVERSITY
IN PARTIAL FULFILMENT OF THE REQUIREMENTS
FOR THE DEGREE OF
DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY
(cid:13)c Copyright by Mohammad Sheikh Zefreh, October 2013
All Rights Reserved
DoctorofPhilosophy(2013) McMasterUniversity
(Electrical&ComputerEngineering) Hamilton,Ontario,Canada
TITLE: EnergyProvisioninginStand-aloneandGrid-ConnectedSo-
larPoweredNetworks
AUTHOR: MohammadSheikhZefreh
M.Sc.,(ElectricalEngineering)
IsfahanUniversityofTechnology,Isfahan,Iran
SUPERVISOR: ProfessorTerenceD.Todd
NUMBEROFPAGES: xviii,126
ii

Abstract
Solar energy is a clean and abundant renewable energy source which is currently used in
manytypesofphotovoltaic(PV)designs. InpracticalPVsystems,solarpanelsareusedto
harvest solarenergy and convert itinto a usableform of electricity. Due tothe intermittent
nature of solar energy input however, battery storage, in combination with solar panels,
mustbeusedtoprovideanuninterruptedsourceofpower.
The process of assigning solar panel and battery configurations for a PV system is re-
ferred to as energy resource provisioning. Unfortunately, energy provisioning costs are
still relatively high, and this is one of the main obstacles that inhibits the adoption of solar
power for many applications. These costs however, can be substantially reduced through
cost-efficientresourceprovisioningmethods. Thefocusofthisthesisisonthedevelopment
ofefficientalgorithmsandenergymanagementmethodsthatwillreduceenergyprovision-
ingcostsinsolarpoweredsystems.
First, we consider resource provisioning in solar powered wireless mesh networks. In
practical solar powered systems, there are usually restrictions in the way that the mesh
nodescanbepositioned,andthisresultsinatime-varyingandnode-dependentattenuation
of the available solar energy. Unfortunately, conventional resource provisioning methods
cannot take this into account and therefore the deployed system may be unnecessarily ex-
pensive. Inthispartofthethesis,theresourceprovisioningproblemisconsideredfromthis
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pointofview. Wefirstreviewconventionalresourceprovisioningmechanismsandgivean
examplewhichshowsthevalueofintroducingpositionalsolarinsolationawareness. APo-
sition Aware Provisioning (PAP) algorithm is then introduced that takes known positional
variations into consideration when performing the energy provisioning. Simulation results
showthatreductionsintotalnetworkprovisioningcostcanbeobtainedusingtheproposed
methodologycomparedtoconventionalalgorithms.
In the second part of the thesis, we consider communication infrastructure that is oper-
atedfromthepowergridwithasolarpoweredaddition. Resourceprovisioningandenergy
management algorithms are introduced to minimize the capital expenditure (CAPEX) and
operating expenditure (OPEX) costs. We first derive lower bounds on the costs using a
linearprogramming(LP)formulationwheresolarcomponentsaresizedusingsolarinsola-
tion and projected loading data. A variety of different node configurations are considered.
Three energy scheduling algorithms are then introduced to optimize online OPEX costs,
namely, Grid Purchase Last (GPL), Solar Load Optimization (SLO) and Solar Load Sim-
ulation (SLS) algorithms. Simulation results show the extent to which a solar powered
add-oncanreducetotalcost.
Finally,weconsidersolarpoweredsystemswherepartoftheirenergydemandsarede-
ferrable, up to some maximum tolerable delay. The objective is to exploit the flexibility of
deferrableenergydemandsinawaythatdecreasesthetotalprovisioningcost. Amixedin-
tegerlinearoptimizationprogramisderivedwhichgivesalowerboundontheprovisioning
cost. ADelayAwareProvisioning(DAP)algorithmisthenproposedtodeterminepractical
cost-efficient energy provisioning. The performance of DAP is compared to the provision-
ing bound and the conventional Stand-alone Node Provisioning (SNP) algorithm. Results
arepresentedwhichshowthesignificantprovisioningcostsavingsthatcanbeobtained.
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Acknowledgements
I would like to express my sincere gratitude to my supervisor, Professor Terence D. Todd,
who patiently provided advice, guidance and encouragement throughout my doctoral pro-
gramatMcMasterUniversity. IthasbeenanhonortodomyPh.D.underhissupervision.
I extend my warm thanks to the members of my Ph.D. supervisory committee and to
the members of the examining committee for reading my thesis and for their valuable sug-
gestions. My sincere thanks also goes to Dr. George Karakostas for his helpful comments
onChapter4.
I would like to thank Dr. Amir A. Sayegh and Dr. Ghada H. Badawy whose helpful
comments and assistance kept me going at the beginning of my Ph.D. research. I would
also like to acknowledge the members of the Wireless Networking Group at McMaster
University for sharing their valuable information and for providing a friendly working en-
vironment. ItakethisopportunitytoparticularlythankHadiMeshgi,AbdullaA.Hammad,
Hanan Hassanein, Naby Nikookaran, Maryam Mohseni and Abdulelah Alganas for their
valuablehelpduringmyPh.D.
My Ph.D. would not have been possible without my training at Isfahan University of
Technology in Iran. I owe a great deal of gratitude to the many scholars at this university
forencouragingmetopursuemydoctorate.
It is difficult for me to express the level of encouragement and emotional support that
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wasconsistentlyprovidedbymyparents,whomIgreatlyrespect.
Finally, thank you to my wife, Somayeh, for her selfless support, love and confidence
inme.
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Abbreviations
AC AlternativeCurrent
BG Battery/GridConfiguration
BS Basestation
BUP BandwidthUsageProfile
CAPEX CapitalExpenditure
CPN ContinuouslyPoweredNode
DAP DelayAwareProvisioningAlgorithm
DC DirectCurrent
EARTH EnergyAwareRadioandNetworkTechnologiesProject
ER EnergyRevenue
GO GridOnlyConfiguration
GPL GridPurchaseLastAlgorithm
GSMa GSMAssociation
viii
IEAP IterativeEnergyAwareProvisioning
IF SolarInsolationFactor
LP LinearProgramming
MILP MixedIntegerLinearProgram
OPEX OperatingExpenditure
PAP PositionAwareProvisioningAlgorithm
PBG SolarPanel/Battery/GridConfiguration
PG SolarPanel/GridConfiguration
PHEV Plug-inHybridElectricVehicles
PV Photo-Voltaic
RSD RelativeStandardDeviation
SLO SolarLoadOptimizationAlgorithm
SLS SolarLoadSimulationAlgorithm
SNP Stand-AloneNodeProvisioning
SNR SignaltoNoiseRatio
SO SolarOnlyConfiguration
SPP ShortestPathResourceProvisioning
TOU TimeofUse
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