Polar Power : IWCE 2024 - Optimizing Off- and On- Grid Energy Cost with New Technology

WITH NEW TECHNOLOGY

OPTIMIZING OFF- AND ON-GRID ENERGY COST

Polar Power is pioneering technologies that can radically change the production, consumption,and environmental impact of power generation

• • Why pursue energy and maintenance cost reductions?

  Because there are opportunities to achieve a substantial competitive edge over competition, either as an MNO, tower operator, or service/maintenance provider.

• • There are advanced and proven technologies in energy production and storage that will provide considerable cost savings, but presently are not widely adopted in telecom. New technologies will also significantly streamline and simplify the maintenance processes thereby increasing reliability.

• • When considering the cost of a system, or how much time should be spent in engineering the system, it is imperative to consider lost revenues when the system fails.

• • Polar provides mobile and stationary energy solutions to the U.S. military since 1984, and many of these technologies are available for cost-effective telecom use.

• • Energy and Maintenance costs are increasing at a significant rate as broadband services grow. More energy means higher costs.

• • Telecommunications and data services reportedly consume 4% of grid power and in the coming years, this number is expected to rise to 20%.

• • Demand on the electric grid is growing with electric vehicles, air-conditioning, all electric homes and businesses, and increasing population.

• • For over 60 years major metropolitan cites have suffer rolling brownouts in the summer due only to air-conditioning demand on the grid, and now there are also electric vehicles.

  We can expect more frequent outages and of longer duration.

• • We can also expect increased oversight on grid usage.

• • Cost of Diesel is increasing along with theft rates.

• • Restriction on the use of diesel generators is increasing, especially near schools, hospitals, and nursing homes.

• • Diesel fuel tanks are increasing in size to meet the desired reserve time of 48 to 72 hours.

  Permitting processes become more time consuming and expensive, many landlords object to the increasing amount of fuel on site.

• • Finding and maintaining qualified technicians is becoming more difficult and costly.

• • The 5G rollout increases the power requirements of the site and this is driving the purchase of larger generators.

  To allow for future growth generators are oversized and this is causing engine problems with wet stacking and condensing water in the crankcase.

• • These problems affect the generator's reliability on backup and off-grid sites.

• • Also greatly increase the maintenance costs.

• • A site going down adversely affects revenues and customer satisfaction.

• • There are solutions, and they are simple and cost effective.

ENERGY STORAGE: OFF-GRID

Battery selection:

• • The type of batteries that have been popular for standby applications (lead-acid) are being installed in off-grid sites that require cycling 1 to 2 times a day. This is a huge mistake. The standby batteries typically last 1 to 3 years at prime power sites, making this a very expensive choice.

• • In place of selecting the correct battery chemistry, engineers reduce the number of charge cycles by increasing the battery bank size (providing more amp hours of storage) in the attempt of extending the battery life. This is not a cost-effective solution.

• • Best solution: use a high cycle battery (e.g. Lithium) and keep the battery bank small and let it cycle 2 to 4 times a day.

This reduces CAPEX and OPEX costs and reduces space.

Generator selection:

• • Using a typical AC generator engineered for backup requires frequent replacement when used in prime power and solar applications.

  To solve this problem managers have reduced AC generator run-time by increasing size of both the battery storage and generator.

  But this increases the OPEX and CAPEX cost while lowering the site reliability.

• • Best solution: install a smaller prime power DC generator with a smaller battery bank. This will increase the number of charge cycles, and the generator will run for a slightly longer period. This will significantly reduce fuel consumption, battery and generator purchase and replacement costs.

- The key concept here is Optimization -

Battery Storage

• • Due to the industry's self-imposed limitations on the maximum equipment operating voltage (i.e., 54-56 Vdc), batteries of all chemistries are not charged completely.

• • The 54 to 56 Vdc are adequate as float voltages in standby applications, but the battery storage capacity will diminish over time. And for cycling applications batteries can be rendered useless in 1 to 3 years.

• • Battery equalization in the 56 to 60 Vdc is required for most battery chemistries. If these higher voltages are not practical for the equipment, then reduce the number of cells in series.

  • • Example: Lithium/Iron/Phosphate use 15 (vs. 16) cells and lead-acid use 22 cells (vs. 24).

• • For those programs that must use the Lead-Acid chemistries we recommend using similar Battery Management Systems as used with Lithium chemistries.

  • • Cell to Cell equalization

  • • Cell to Cell voltage monitoring

• • We recommend against having independent and multiple batteries packs disbursed between the various cabinets. A more efficient solution is a centralized battery bank with temperature regulation and monitoring.

  If a large amount of energy storage is required, then the batteries should be divided into banks, allowing the cells gone bad to be isolated without having to shut down the entire bank.

For On-Grid sites we strongly recommend using Super Capacitors and removing all batteries

Battery and Generator sizing:

• • Batteries must be sized based on having their discharge rate higher than the power demand of the load (amps), then factoring in the desired reserve time.

• • For Prime power, the DC generators should not be sized based on just the kW rating, instead determine the kW hours needed per day divided by your desired daily run time and this will give you the optimum kW size.

  Make sure the kW rating does not exceed the sum of the load and max charge rating of the battery.

• • For on-grid DC generator size based on the load demand in amps and not from the kW rating AC generator.

  During the power outage the DC generator can regulate the current charge into the battery and the load allow the grid to recharge the battery when power is restored. This reduces the generator size and saves diesel fuel cost delivered to the site.

• • Over or under sizing generators and batteries can cost considerable expense and maintenance.

Advantage of Lithium Battery in Off-Grid installations

• • The Lithium chemistry is about ¼ the volume and weight of the lead-acid for the same amount of usable energy.

• • The lithium battery has a much shorter recharging cycle time than lead-acid, reducing the generator run time.

• • The Lithium chemistry is 15% to 20% more efficient than lead-acid technologies saving a significant amount of fuel and solar charging.

• • A non standby type lead-acid batteries typically last 3 to 5 years and the lithium is 4 to 8 years.

• • As the lead-acid batteries age, they lose efficiency in the charge/ discharge cycle to the extent that the battery can consume a similar amount of energy as the load itself.

Super Capacitor to Replace Starting Battery:

• • The starting battery is the number one failure point on generator starting

• • We see three problems with starting batteries:

  1.

  They are popular targets for theft

  • 2. Upon replacement, many operators choose an unreliable (but convenient) battery

  3.

  Reliability is compromised at low and high temperatures

• • The super capacitor is charged from the load battery using a DC-DC converter.

Main Features:

• • Voltage: 16V, Capacitance: 500F

• • Environmentally safe, No toxic chemicals

• • Virtually maintenance free

• • Service life 15 - 20 years or 500,000 start cycles

• • Operating range -40°C to +65°C

• • High cranking amps

• • Resists shock and vibration

• • Lightweight

8

• • DC Generator (Yanmar 3TNV88 Engine)

• • Up to 15 years no site battery replacement

• • 280 amps DC current (500 amp models available)

• • Powder coated Aluminium enclosure

• • Small footprint (68" X 34" x 72" )

• • 54 gal UL142 rated double walled diesel tank

• • Fuel level sensor

• • Integrated Polar Supra digital controller

• • Ethernet connection

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