An optimization model for the long-term planning of energy distribution networks

Although design is a problem that has been addressed in the literature, maintaining, upgrading and expanding energy distribution networks along the entire life-cycle is a topic that has received scarce attention. The problem includes considering the long-term dependence of the efficiency of the investments along their life span. This work presents a novel model for the optimization of energy distribution networks considering the decaying performance caused by equipment aging. Increasing maintenance costs have been included to model the decaying performance, thus giving rise to an MINLP formulation. A simplified case study based on a real electricity distribution network has been used as a test bed for the proposed approach. Results show that unrealistic sizing and planning solutions are obtained when the decaying performance is not considered and demonstrate that the proposed MINLP overcomes such limitations.