Scenario-based analysis of investment needs for the German transmission grid

The increase of renewable energy sources in Europe is connected with a new challenge for the transmission system. In Germany, the decrease of generation capacity in central and southern regions and new conventional and renewable power plants located in the North necessitate investments in the transmission grid. In this paper, the need of grid expansions is identified using a genetic optimization model. The algorithm finds the cost-minimal investments projects for a given network topology. The model is applied on a reduced network model of the German transmission system. A wholesale market model generates the input data that consists of local distribution of generation and load. The model is applied on different surveys assigned by the federal ministry and finally, the quality of the results is discussed.