A fuzzy branch and bound-based transmission system expansion planning considering ambiguities

This paper proposes a new method for choice of the best transmission system expansion plan considering ambiguities power systems. The proposed method considers the permissibility and ambiguity of the investment budget (economics) for constructing the new transmission lines and the delivery marginal rate (reliability criteria) of the system by modeling the transmission expansion problem as a fuzzy integer programming one. It solves for the optimal strategy (reasonable as well as flexible) using a fuzzy set theory-based on branch and bound method that utilizes a network flow approach and the maximum flow-minimum cut set theorem. Under no or only a very small database for the evaluation of reliability indices, the proposed technique provides the decision maker with a valuable and practical tool to solve the transmission expansion problem considering problem uncertainties. Test results on the 63-bus test practical size system show that the proposed method is practical and efficiently applicable to the transmission expansion planning.