Potential Factors for Multi-Criteria Evaluation of HVDC compared to HVAC in Transmitting of Power

The landscape of the electricity industry is changing at alarming rate within the transmission and distribution level. The primary driver is the introduction of renewable energy sources aiming to combat the effect of global warming including growth in electricity demand. The choice in between high voltage direct current (HVDC) and high voltage alternating current (HVAC) in transmitting the additional capacity generated requires careful assessment given the grid operational requirements since there are several factors that needs to be considered before a decision is made. Although techno-economic has been the approach that the justification of choice will be based in the event of choosing the new transmission medium, questions that arise is that there are other factors that might not be considered and raising doubts of subjectivity of the decision made. In mitigating the drawback, multicriteria decision analysis (MCDA) approach is considered. This will take into consideration all the factors and weigh the options based on inputs in ensuring that an element of subjectivity is eliminated when the decision is made. The authors aimed at identifying, presenting, and discussing several potential factors deemed to be useful in evaluating the choice in between the HVAC and HVDC using the MCDA. The factors identified takes into consideration technical performance, environmental consideration, the economic impact, and others outside the key main factors, applicable to both systems.