Investigation of different methods to generate Power Transmission Line routes

In this study, we analyze and then evaluate four methods for siting more than one Power Transmission Line (PTL) simultaneously. Specifically, we look at (1) the least cost path (LCP) inside a macro-corridor, (2) the simultaneous definition of two routes (3) many routes inside a macro-corridor and (4) non-corridor routes generation. We apply the methods to a case study of siting two lines to deliver power for Northeastern Alberta and evaluated based on a set of metrics including overall impacts, computational complexity, and the spatial variability of the proposed alternatives. The results show that when the range of stakeholders' values and concerns are incorporated into the siting model, the conventional LCP between the source of electricity and the destination is not necessarily the best solution. Rather, our findings show that among the methods examined in this study, non-corridor routes generation method tends to find the lowest impact alternatives.