When Telecommunication Networks Meet Energy Grids: Cellular Networks with Energy Harvesting and Trading Capabilities

In this article, we cover eco-friendly cellular networks, discussing the benefits that ambient energy harvesting offers in terms of energy consumption and profit. We advocate for future networks where energy harvesting will be massively employed to power network elements; even further, communication networks will seamlessly blend with future power grids. This vision entails the fact that future base stations may trade some of the excess energy they harvest so as to make a profit and provide ancillary services to the electricity grid. We start by discussing recent developments in the energy harvesting field, and then deliberate on the way future energy markets are expected to evolve and the new fundamental trade-offs that arise when energy can be traded. Performance estimates are given throughout to support our arguments, and open research issues in this emerging field are discussed.© 2015 IEEE. Personal use of this material is permitted. Permission from IEEE must be obtained for all other uses, in any current or future media, including reprinting/republishing this material for advertising or promotional purposes, creating new collective works, for resale or redistribution to servers or lists, or reuse of any copyrighted component of this work in other works