Optimized green operation of LTE networks in the presence of multiple electricity providers

Abstract

Energy efficiency aspects in cellular networks can significantly contribute to the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions and help to save the environment. The base station (BS) sleeping strategy has become a well-known technique to achieve energy savings by switching off redundant BSs mainly for lightly loaded networks. Besides, introducing renewable energies as alternative power sources becomes a real challenge to network operators. In this paper, we propose a method that reduces the energy consumption of BSs by not only shutting down underutilized BSs but also by optimizing the amounts of energy procured from different retailers (Renewable energy and electricity retailers). We formulate an optimization problem that leads to the maximization of the profit of a Long-Term Evolution (LTE) cellular operator, and at the same time to the minimization of CO2 emissions in green wireless cellular networks without affecting the desired Quality of Service.