Sizing of a solar-hydrogen power source for a portable emergency communication system: Case study of hurricanes in Cancun, Mexico

• A photovoltaic–hydrogen system for portable emergency communication is studied.
• A case study in Cancun, Mexico was conducted to validate the proposed method.
• The study concerns the effect of hypothetical two hurricanes per year.
• The results validate the feasibility of the proposed methodology.
• The photovoltaic–hydrogen system ensures adequate power supply during emergency.

Nowadays, society and the economy largely depend on wireless communications because they allow freedom of human activities from spatial and temporal restrictions. To add mobility to this communication technology type, portable communication networks can be implemented to achieve this aim as well as to provide ubiquitous coverage in emergency circumstances. In accordance with the above-mentioned points, we study a photovoltaic–hydrogen system (PVS–H2) for a portable emergency communication system (PECS), which operates in a mobile ad-hoc mesh network. As a case study, a theoretical application on the effects of two hurricanes per year in Cancun, Mexico using real weather data and random dates is presented. A power system was sized to cope with hypothetical emergency communication scenarios. The results show that the PVS–H2 can operate during two hurricanes with an efficacy of 79.14% and a standard deviation of 0.96%. According to the results, the analysis strategy can determine the best configuration to avoid oversizing or undersizing with a small standard deviation. The obtained sizing result ensures that the PVS–H2 supplies adequate energy for the PECS.