A new branch-and-bound model for optimal expansion planning of transmission network investments

This paper presents a new model and a solution methodology for optimal planning of high voltage transmission network investments. The objective of this problem is to minimize capital costs needed for new network elements while meeting imposed operation constraints, and it is formulated via a linear mixed integer model. Then a new branch-and-bound algorithm is proposed as the problem solution. The fundamenal idea of this algorithm is to reduce the number of discrete variables contained in the original set of unknowns. The proposed methodology was verified on several test examples, as well as on the real transmission network of the eastern part of former Yugoslavia.