This paper provides a comprehensive description of the modeling capabilities of the planning tool and preprocessor and provides first results of their application on small-scale scenarios.
FlexPlan creates a new network planning tool whose ambition is to go beyond the state of the art of planning methodologies by including the following innovative features: evaluation of the best planning strategy by analyzing at a glance a large number of network expansion options (‘candidates’) provided by a pre-processor; simultaneous evaluation of the medium and long-term planning of the network over three years (2030-2040-2050); incorporation of a full range of cost-benefit analysis criteria into the target function; integrated transmission distribution planning, embedded environmental analysis (air quality, carbon footprint, environmental protection restrictions); probabilistic contingency analysis methodologies replacing the traditional N-1 criterion; application of numerical decomposition techniques to reduce computational load and analysis of the variability of renewable generation time series through the application of the Monte Carlo method. Six regional cases are developed covering almost the whole of Europe to provide an insight into network planning in Europe up to 2050. FlexPlan will conclude by formulating guidelines for European regulators and network operators, indicating the extent to which system flexibility can help reduce overall system costs (operational investments) while maintaining current system security levels, and the regulatory provisions that could favor this process. This paper provides a comprehensive description of the modeling capabilities of the planning tool and preprocessor and provides first results of their application in small-scale scenarios.