Markov Models for Dimensioning and Provisioning of Battery Energy Storage Systems (BESS) for Off-Grid Green Mobile Network Base Station Sites

There is a growing desire by mobile network operators and other stakeholders to reduce carbon emissions from the operation of mobile networks. The widespread adoption of ultra-dense 5G and Internet of Things (IoT) networks will likely increase the energy demand from these networks significantly. In this paper, we model the density of the time required to charge BESS to its full capacity when the renewable energy sources can generate enough energy to meet the needs of the base station site and the density of the time required to completely deplete the energy stored in BESS when the renewable energy sources cannot generate a sufficient amount of energy to meet the demand of the site. We also investigate the influence of the design parameters, such as the energy supply-demand ratio, on the distribution of the time required to charge BESS to its full capacity (for a supply-demand ratio greater than one) and the time required to completely deplete the energy stored in BESS (for supply-demand ratio less than one).