Reduction of the Computational Burden of the TEP Problem by a Minimum-Effort Heuristic Algorithm

This paper presents a heuristic algorithm to reduce the set of equipment candidates for Transmission Expansion Planning (TEP). Since it is a Constructive Heuristic Algorithm (CHA), the MiniEff algorithm aims at reducing the computational burden involved in the optimization process in a quick and satisfactory way. This approach includes two major blocks. The first one uses the minimum-effort calculation based on DC-OPF analysis to reduce the search space of the TEP problem. Then, the reduced list of investment alternatives is input to the AC-TEP formulation to build the final expansion plan using the Evolutionary Particle Swarm Optimization technique (EPSO). The tests on the developed TEP approach were done using the IEEE 118 Bus System and they demonstrate the gains that were obtained in terms of reducing the computer burden in solving TEP without compromising the quality of the final plans.