Transmission Expansion Planning in the Western Interconnection

28 February 2013 by Energy Exemplar

Within the Western Interconnection there is a growing realisation that the traditional long-term planning processes and analytical methods used to evaluate wires and non-wires alternatives fail to address many of the questions arising from deregulation and the perceived need for new infrastructure to facilitate markets and to assure reliability.

In addition, homeland security issues may influence transmission infrastructure expansion. This paper describes the region's evolving transmission expansion planning process and the role OPF1 modelling plays in aiding decision-making and consensus building.

It identifies some opportunities for improvement in modelling, highlights two state-of-the-art models with capabilities that go beyond those of other models currently used for long-term transmission planning and makes a case for why we need to invest in better modelling and databases.

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