Impact of regionalization methods on network development planning

Network development planning is a central task during the next decades due to the extension of renewable energy generation all over the world. In most countries, the geographic locations of renewable energy systems are not planned by any authority - the process is decentralized. The following analysis shows the effects of regional distribution of smaller power generation units on network development planning. Two different ways of regionalization of wind and photovoltaic power capacity are compared using an AC load flow calculation of the German transmission system. A special effort was made in collecting and structuring all input data for the analysis. This paper aims to sensibilize all those who are responsible to consider the input data intensely and with due diligence.