Expansion var planning model in a meshed/mixed AC/DC network

The importance of wind power generation has risen in the last years so much to be considered the most important and affordable renewable energy source with a growing rate faster than other mainstream technologies in the word. Due to the lack of land resources and some environmentalist opposition, the wind strategy is now looking at offshore installations. This requires new criteria to set out the appropriate architecture for future offshore grids. The use of HVAC Cables and LCC (Line Commutated Convertion) and VSC (Voltage Source Conversion) technologies stress the importance of extending the long-term expansion planning to the var support. Coping adequately with the problem of the voltage security assessment in a long-term expansion planning, is the purpose of this work. In this paper a model for the reactive expansion planning is proposed in the presence of a meshed AC/DC grid.