Integrated robust generation and transmission network expansion planning considering time duration uncertainty

This study presents an integrated generation and transmission network expansion planning (GTEP) model to identify the optimal size and site of generators and lines. Electricity load and production capacity uncertainties are managed using robust optimization (RO), resulting in a robust GTEP problem. Another crucial uncertainty is the load block's time duration (LBTD), which has been thoroughly ignored in planning studies. Thus, this paper constructs a robust GTEP model that captures the uncertainty of LBTD using RO. The formulation forms a trilevel structure representing the investment and operational decisions in the first and third levels and the uncertainty realizations in the second. To solve the trilevel framework, the primal Benders decomposition (PBD) is first employed to divide the model into a master problem (MP) and a subproblem (SP). Due to including LBTD uncertainty, the subproblem cannot be solved for each load block, leading to a large optimization problem. Hence, the dual Benders decomposition (DBD) is applied to decompose the SP into an MP and several SPs. This way, the SPs can be solved independently for each load block. The proposed robust GTEP model is validated using a standard power system to show the method's efficiency.