Abstract
We jointly optimize the orientation angles of {N} photovoltaic (PV) cells powering one base station (BS). There are more degrees of freedom for matching the energy generation profile of the PV cells to the energy consumption profile of the BS by deploying the PV cells with potentially different orientation angles. We derive analytically the energy generation profile of any randomly inclined and oriented PV cell from the irradiance values received at a horizontally mounted PV cell at the same location. The energy drawn per day from the main grid by the BS given its energy consumption profile is used as the performance metric to determine the optimal orientation angles. Our results show that deploying one PV cell (or several PV cells) with the (same) optimized orientation angle is recommended for BSs with an energy consumption profile that has one significant local maximum between sunrise and sunset. Deploying two PV cells (or two equal-sized groups of PV cells) where the two orientation angles (of the two groups) are jointly optimized is recommended for BSs with an energy consumption profile that has significant local maxima in the morning as well as in the afternoon or with a constant energy consumption profile.