High voltage direct current system-based generation and transmission expansion planning considering reactive power management of AC and DC stations

• Published in: Scientific reports Vol. 15; no. 1; pp. 15537 - 18
• Main Authors: Akbari, Ehsan, Naghibi, Ahad Faraji, Veisi, Mehdi, Pirouzi, Sasan, Safaee, Sheila
• Format: Journal Article
• Language: English
• Published: London Nature Publishing Group UK 03.05.2025; Nature Publishing Group; Nature Portfolio
• Subjects: 639/166/987; 639/705/1041; Construction costs; Economics; Electrical engineering; Electrical transmission; Electricity distribution; Energy resources; Generation and transmission expansion planning; High voltage; Humanities and Social Sciences; HVDC planning; Mathematical programming; multidisciplinary; Optimization; Planning; Reactive power management; Red panda optimizatio; Science; Science (multidisciplinary); Siting and sizing model; Transmission lines; Voltage; HVDC planning; Red panda optimizatio; Generation and transmission expansion planning; Siting and sizing model; Reactive power management
• ISSN: 2045-2322; 2045-2322
• DOI: 10.1038/s41598-025-99875-z

This study presents a planning approach that considers the simultaneous expansion of generating and transmission systems, taking into account the location and sizing of generation units, AC transmission lines, and high-voltage direct-current (HVDC) systems. The HVDC system utilizes AC and DC substations equipped with AC/DC and DC/AC power electronic converters, respectively, to effectively regulate and control the reactive power of the transmission network. The problem aims to minimize the combined annual cost of constructing the specified parts and operating the generation units. This is subject to constraints such as the size and investment budget limits, an AC optimum power flow model, and the operational limits of both renewable and non-renewable generation units. The scheme incorporates a non-linear model. The Red Panda Optimization (RPO) is utilized to solve the provided model in order to attain a dependable and optimal solution. This research focuses on several advances, including the planning of the HVDC power system, the regulation of reactive power in HVDC substations, and the resolution of related issues using the RPO algorithm. The numerical findings collected from several case studies demonstrate the effectiveness of the suggested approach in enhancing the economic and technical aspects of the transmission network. Efficiently coordinating the generation units, AC transmission lines, and HVDC system leads to a significant enhancement in the economic performance of the network, resulting in a 10–40% improvement compared to the network power flow studies.