Novel methodology for selecting representative operating points for the TNEP

Abstract

As part of transmission network expansion planning(TNEP), a technical and economical assessment of several planningalternatives must be performed in order to ensure fulfillment of thenetwork security criteria and to estimate the alternatives’ expectedoperating costs. This task requires performing load flow calcula-tions for different operating points (OPs) of the power system. Dueto the high computational burden, considering all possible OPs issimply not possible. As a consequence, only a set of representativeOPs is usually taken into account. Most works in the TNEP focus onissues related to optimization algorithms and modeling, neglectingthe selection process of the representative OPs. Furthermore, mostworks only consider a few OPs, providing little or no insight aboutthe criteria used in the selection process or about the error madewhen evaluating planning alternatives using a limited number ofOPs. In this work, a novel methodology for selecting representativeOPs to consider within the TNEP is presented. The proposal paysspecial attention to critical situations, where the network securitymay be endangered. Furthermore, the methodology allows quan-tifying the error made when evaluating network operation using alimited number of representative OPs.