Expansion planning for smart transmission grids using AC model and shunt compensation

It is widely recognised that large amounts of limited controlled renewable generation in smart grids bring major challenges. The increasing complexity to solve the transmission expansion planning (TEP) problem emphasises the need to face it with new models and more efficient optimisation techniques. In this research work, a load shedding formulation is proposed, extended for the AC model that takes into account shunt compensation additions to solve the TEP problem. This allows an integrated transmission line and shunt compensation planning that can be solved more efficiently. To solve the TEP problem, an improved version of local particle swarm optimisation is used. Solutions obtained in very well-known test and realistic networks demonstrate that this implementation can be very interesting for practical use.