Impact of Distributed Energy Resources on the Reliability of a Critical Telecommunications Facility
Telecommunications has been identified by the Department of Homeland Security as a critical infrastructure to the United States. Failures in the power systems supporting major telecommunications service nodes are a main contributor to major telecommunications outages, as documented by analyses of Federal Communications Commission (FCC) outage reports by the National Reliability Steering Committee (under auspices of the Alliance for Telecommunications Industry Solutions). There are two major issues that are having increasing impact on the sensitivity of the power distribution to telecommunication facilities: deregulation of the power industry, and changing weather patterns. A logical approach to improve the robustness of telecommunication facilities would be to increase the depth and breadth of technologies available to restore power in the face of power outages. Distributed energy resources such as fuel cells and gas turbines could provide one more onsite electric power source to provide backup power, if batteries and diesel generators fail. But does the diversity in power sources actually increase the reliability of offered power to the office equipment, or does the complexity of installing and managing the extended power system induce more potential faults and higher failure rates? This report analyzes a system involving a telecommunications facility consisting of two switch-bays and a satellite reception system.
- Research Organization:
- National Renewable Energy Lab. (NREL), Golden, CO (United States)
- Sponsoring Organization:
- USDOE
- DOE Contract Number:
- AC36-99-GO10337
- OSTI ID:
- 878567
- Report Number(s):
- SAND2006-1277; NREL/TP-620-39561; TRN: US200611%%333
- Resource Relation:
- Related Information: Joint report with Sandia National Laboratories
- Country of Publication:
- United States
- Language:
- English
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Related Subjects
08 HYDROGEN
24 POWER TRANSMISSION AND DISTRIBUTION
29 ENERGY PLANNING
POLICY AND ECONOMY
30 DIRECT ENERGY CONVERSION
32 ENERGY CONSERVATION, CONSUMPTION, AND UTILIZATION
COMMUNICATIONS
DEREGULATION
ELECTRIC POWER
FUEL CELLS
GAS TURBINES
POWER DISTRIBUTION
POWER SYSTEMS
RELIABILITY
SATELLITES
SECURITY
SENSITIVITY
WEATHER
TELECOMMUNICATIONS
SANDIA NATIONAL LABORATORIES
DISTRIBUTED ENERGY RESOURCES
FEDERAL COMMUNICATIONS COMMISSION
HOMELAND SECURITY
POWER OUTAGES
DOUG ARENT
Energy Analysis