A New Long-term Generation Planning Tool for Low-carbon Economy

This paper presents a computationally efficient optimization model that finds the long-term generation expansion for low-carbon economy. The model incorporates investment and retirement of generation, CO
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emissions polices, and power system physical constraints. The tool is used to simulate generation planning over a ten-year forecast horizon. The dual simplex linear programming algorithm is used to solve the optimization problem for 12 typical hour-types in each year that meets reliability criteria. Two scenarios are tested that consider subsidies for renewables and CO
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emissions regulation. High and low gas price trends are also simulated and have small impacts on CO
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emissions. Low gas prices with cap-and-trade reduce carbon emissions the most. Extensive retirement of coal-fired power plants occurs in all cases.