Transmission network expansion planning with wind energy integration: A stochastic programming model

The growing penetration of wind energy has introduced increasing uncertainties to power grids. As a result, it is necessary to develop new models and algorithms in transmission network expansion planning (TNEP) so as to deal with the risks. In this paper a stochastic programming model is proposed to carry out the TNEP. Moreover, an effective hybrid algorithm, which is the combination of evolutionary algorithms (EA) and Benders' Decomposition (BD) technique, is developed to solve the formed programming model. Theoretically, the EAs have the advantage of rapidly locating a high-quality region and the BD can accelerate the search to find the optimal solution within the region. In addition, the hybrid method is tested by the modified Garver's system and the IEEE 14 bus system. Promising results are obtained to validate its effectiveness.