skip to main content
OSTI.GOV title logo U.S. Department of Energy
Office of Scientific and Technical Information

Title: Impact of Distributed Energy Resources on the Reliability of Critical Telecommunications Facilities: Preprint

Conference ·
OSTI ID:888692

This paper documents a probabilistic risk assessment of existing and alternative power supply systems at a large telecommunications office. The analysis characterizes the increase in the reliability of power supply through the use of two alternative power configurations. Failures in the power systems supporting major telecommunications service nodes are a main contributor to significant telecommunications outages. A logical approach to improving the robustness of telecommunication facilities is to increase the depth and breadth of technologies available to restore power during power outages. Distributed energy resources such as fuel cells and gas turbines could provide additional on-site electric power sources to provide backup power, if batteries and diesel generators fail. The analysis is based on a hierarchical Bayesian approach and focuses on the failure probability associated with each of three possible facility configurations, along with assessment of the uncertainty or confidence level in the probability of failure. A risk-based characterization of final best configuration is presented.

Research Organization:
National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
Sponsoring Organization:
USDOE
DOE Contract Number:
AC36-99-GO10337
OSTI ID:
888692
Report Number(s):
NREL/CP-620-40220; TRN: US200618%%339
Resource Relation:
Conference: To be presented at INTELEC 2006 (International Telecommunications Energy Conference), 10-14 September 2006, Providence, Rhode Island
Country of Publication:
United States
Language:
English