Using a New Method to Incorporate the Load Uncertainty into the SEP Problem

In this paper, a new method is conducted for incorporating the forecasted load uncertainty into the Substation Expansion Planning (SEP) problem. This method is based on the fuzzy clustering, where the location and value of each forecasted load center is modeled by employing the probability density function according to the percentage of uncertainty. After discretization of these functions, the location and value of each of the new load centers are determined based on the presented fuzzy clustering based algorithm. A Genetic Algorithm (GA) is used to solve the presented optimization problem in which the allocations and capacities of new substations as well as the expansion requirements for the existing ones are determined. With the innovative presented method, the impact of uncertainty of the power and location of the predicted loads on the results of SEP is measured, and finally, it is possible to make a proper decision for the SEP. The significant features of this method can be outlined as its applicability to large-scale networks, robustness to load changes, the comprehensiveness and also, the simplicity of applying this method to various problems. The effectiveness of proposed method is demonstrated by application on a real sub-transmission system.