A reliability cost-benefit analysis for HVDC transmission expansion planning

A major portion of Manitoba Hydro´s generation is located in the north on the Nelson River. The lower Nelson River generation is brought into the load center in southern Manitoba through an HVDC transmission system consisting of two bipoles. The total potential generation on the lower Nelson River consists of five plant sites of 5680 MW, two of which have been developed and the third of which is being built. This will result in 3580 MW of generation and a total HVDC transmission capability of 3680 MW. With the development of the remaining sites an additional bipole will be required. The methodology used in arriving at the optimum size for this bipole, using a reliability cost-benefit analysis, is described. The analysis considers the forced outages of the generation and transmission systems using system outage statistics. The load model used in the study was based on system data for the period 1980-1984. The optimum bipole size is determined to be 2200 MW