Long-term transmission system expansion planning with multi-objective evolutionary algorithm

•Solution framework based on multi-objective metaheuristic to provide sets of high quality solutions for the planner.•Planning considering samples of relevant generation scenarios.•Solution method with the metaheuristic SPEA-2.

This article presents a solution framework for the static long-term transmission system expansion planning problem that improves the classical least-cost planning by taking into account the transmission operation flexibility on different generation dispatch scenarios. In the proposed strategy, a multi-objective algorithm is proposed to obtain promising solutions according to the satisfaction of operation scenarios. The solution framework applies the multi-objective evolutionary algorithm SPEA2 to obtain a pool of expansion alternatives with the corresponding relation of cost and operation scenario satisfaction that will serve as a reference for the planner to select the best ones for detailed analysis.