Practical considerations in applying intelligent optimization techniques to transmission expansion planning

Summary form only given. One of the objectives to apply intelligent optimization techniques to transmission expansion planning is to develop an automated process to determine a transmission solution that minimizes or maximizes an objective function while meeting certain system performance criteria and system constraints. Since the formulations of system performance criteria and constraints are well established, the differences between published papers are in the employed objective functions, specific solution techniques and system models that are compatible with the chosen techniques. In order to make the proposed approach to work, it is common to treat all expansion solutions equally and not to consider the practical aspects and individual characteristic of each solution. Additionally, most proposed methods do not consider the applicable regulatory environment in the selection of the objective functions. As a result, many good ideas and approaches cannot be implemented. This presentation is to discuss the impact of various regulatory environments in selecting the objective functions and some of the practical aspects that need to be considered with respect to transmission expansion solutions. Examples are provided for illustration purposes. The ultimate purpose is to bring awareness to these practical aspects and hope that they are incorporated in future research activities such that the developed techniques can be more readily adopted by the utility industry.